Disenchanted
by bookworm03
Summary: NEW STORY! Post-season 5ish... There will be OCs, T/M, Jack, Bill...all that good stuff! Read the author's note inside for more details.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Okay so basically, I'm sure you're all horribly disappointed that this is not the next chapter of "Bend and Not Break" and I do apologize…but I've had this written and haven't had time to write chpt 17 and I always planned on posting this for the summer sooooo…Don't hate me? : ) I'm actually really excited about this story, but it's very different from anything I've ever done before. The main characters will obviously be an integral part of everything but since I feel as though they get their moment in the spotlight in my other stories there's also a few original characters (some of which may have appeared in another story of mine…hint, hint) that are central to the goings on. This whole concept is meant to be three parts and the plan is (for now at least) for all of it to take place in one day in a more 24-type format. If people are interested I'll definitely be posting the other parts that follow this…

Like I said, I'm really, really excited about this story and also really nervous about posting it (it's been a work in progress for ages…) so I'd love to get some feedback and hope you all are willing to oblige and ease my mind. : )

Thanks in advance.

Bookworm.

P.S. The first chapter is basically a setup for everything to come (ie: so we see where all our beloved characters are at this point in time.) It's accurate up to the first few episodes of season 5 (bear with me) and by chapter 2 we'll be seeing a lot more of the main 24 characters.

* * *

Disenchanted

PROLOGUE

Age 8

"Aly…" the little girl tugged on the blankets. "Aly, are you awake?"

Her sister groaned and stirred.

"What's wrong?" she startled slightly when she heard the commotion from downstairs. Her whole body tensed.

The little sister tightened her grip the stuffed dog she clutched in her free fist and buried her face in it.

"Daddy's mad again." She whispered the words, as though that would make it less true. The older sister went white and sat upright in bed. She slowly lowered her feet to the floor.

"Where are you going?!"

"I just want to see what's happening…" she scuffled across the wood paneling, her pajama pants a few inches too long for her.

"Aly, don't!"

"I'll be right back…"

Aly pushed her straggly blonde curls out of her eyes and proceeded into the hallway. She took her time moving towards the stairs, the sounds getting louder as she did. Her mom was crying.

"Damnit Diana!" her dad roared venomously. "I told you to tell your mother we couldn't make dinner this weekend. Look at your face? You want your entire family to see what a wreck you are?"

She continued to cry and Aly perched herself on the top of the stairs, her fingers wrapped white-knuckle around the railing and her eyes wide with horror.

"Bill's only available once every few months…I want to see my - "

The sound of his hand against her cheek made Aly start. She heard her mom crying harder and moved further down the stairs.

"Aly, stop!" her sister called after her, but she ignored her and continued into the kitchen.

"What's happening?" Aly asked boldly. She told herself not to seem afraid but when she was finally confronted with the scene in front of her she felt shaky. Her mom was cornered up against the fridge, a hand covering one side of her face and her dad stood breathing heavily a few feet away from her. Both turned to look at their daughter when she entered the room.

"Go to bed, Aly." Her dad stated flatly.

"Dad, what are you - ?"

"I said go back upstairs!" he roared.

"But dad, what's wrong with - "

"Get back upstairs - !"

"Ben, she's just scared…"

"Shut up!"

Aly remained rooted to the ground.

"Aly, go check on Claire. I heard her moving around earlier. Mommy and I were just having an argument. It'll be okay tomorrow."

"But I wanna see Uncle Bill on Saturday…" Aly exclaimed, not wanting to leave the kitchen yet. "Can't we go? He always brings us presents…"

"You're already spoiled, all of you. Now are you going to go back to bed or will I have to carry you up there myself?"

The look in his eyes told Aly she did _not_ want to make him carry her upstairs himself. She turned and left.

"Is mommy okay?" Claire asked when she saw her sister was unharmed after the confrontation.

Aly nodded wordlessly and Claire started to cry as the door closed behind them.

"I can't sleep when daddy…"  
"You can sleep with me." Aly offered and allowed her sister to crawl into the bed first before pulling the covers over both of them.

* * *

Age 12

"Why's dad home?" Nine-year-old Claire inquired as the girls stepped off the school bus and onto the curb beside their house. She received no answer, except for her sister's retreating back as she hurried up the driveway and towards the front door.

"We're home!" she called loudly as Claire shut the door behind her.

No one said anything.

"Mom!" she dropped her backpack and hurried anxiously through the hallway and into the living room. Her mom was sitting on the couch with a small icepack held at one side of her neck.

"Oh good, you're home." Her mom smiled. "We were thinking of going out for dinner tonight. Anywhere you girls feel like going?"

"Why's dad home?" she asked nervously.

"Oh…he left early today. Thought we could spend some quality family time…" her mother laughed like it was a nice, little surprise. "I'll never understand these moods he gets into."

Her daughter's eyes narrowed. "What happened to your neck?"

"I think I pinched a nerve…I was sitting at the computer all afternoon. Uncle Bill e-mailed me. He's in Washington this week. He also said not to tell Claire…" she winked. "But I think he has something special for you next time we see him."

"So you hurt your neck sitting at the computer for a couple of hours?"

"I probably slept on it weird or something…I'm sure it'll be fine tomorrow."

"Can I see?" she inquired.

"Are you a doctor now?" her mother responded intuitively.

"Why does dad do this?" she felt the tears well in her eyes and she collapsed on the couch beside her mother. "How come he does this to you?"

"Honey, daddy went through a lot when he went away before. You know he loves us and we just need to give him some time."

"Six years isn't long enough?" she snapped sarcastically.

"Don't get smart with me, Alex. When you get married you'll realize there are choices you have to make. I choose to support my husband because I love him."

"He's _hurting_ you!" she exclaimed incredulously. "If he loves you, why is he hurting you?"  
"You're not old enough to understand, honey…"

At that moment Claire and her dad walked in.

"Dad said he'd take us all out tonight if we want." Claire stated happily. "Can we go to that pizza place, Aly? Pleaseeeeeeeee…"

Alex rose calmly and gulped hard, before she approached them and stared directly at her father.

"I have a project to do tonight." She stated, her voice wavering. "You guys go without me."

* * *

Age 16

"Do you think your parents will let you sleepover tomorrow?"

Alex hesitated. "I don't know yet…"

"Well ask! I need you to tell me what Chris said about me…you've got all the dirt!" Kathryn exclaimed indignantly. "They can get by without you for one night."

Alex laughed. "I don't have all the dirt…"

"He _must've _said something when you guys played hockey…damnit I really need to learn how to play hockey! Maybe you can teach me that tomorrow too!"

Kathryn giggled and Alex followed suit.

"I'll see what I can do, alright?"

"Besides…my parents are gone all weekend and my brother said if we _wanted_ he'd take us to that party Maxine's throwing…Maybe Brandon will put the moves on you again…" she grinned wickedly and Alex groaned.

"I was drunk. He's an ass."

"Yeah well, you realize no one's ever gonna touch you if you keep hanging out with the entire football team…That's just slightly intimidating to every other guy in school…"

"I don't want a boyfriend." She stated crisply as they rounded the corner to her house.

"Courtney was asking me why I hung out with you because you're so stuck up…Because the fact that you turned down a senior makes you a horrible person." Kathryn rolled her eyes. "She's a bitch…I just thought you should know what she's saying…"  
"Whatever…anyway, look I'd better get inside."

When Alex stepped inside the house she immediately knew something was wrong. You could've heard a pin drop as she proceeded with great caution into the kitchen, the only light that was on in the house.

The scene before her forced the bile up to the back of her throat and she clenched her fists unknowingly."

"What are you doing!" she exclaimed. Her mom was huddled in a corner, knees pulled up to her chest and Claire had buried her face in her hands. There was blood. Lots of blood.

"Dad!" she exclaimed as he turned to stare at her.

"Take Claire outside." He stated calmly. She hated that he could be so calm. That his wife was bleeding on the floor because of him and he wasn't even quavering.

Claire rose robotically from her position on the floor and went to stand beside her sister. She was trembling.

Alex didn't move.

"Alex, take your sister outside _now_!"

She gulped hard, finding her voice.

"No." she stated firmly. Claire's eyes widened.

"Aly…" she touched her arm, but Alex ignored her.

"Don't be stupid, this doesn't concern you."

"I'm not going anywhere." She stated, trying to mimic his calmness.

"Fine…" he reached for her arm and started dragging her towards the door. She kneed him in the groin and he slammed her hard into the wall, the whole room echoing with a loud _crack_ as it came in contact with her skull.

Claire was screaming when her mother leapt from her position on the floor and lunged at her husband.

"Ben, stop! She's not - "

He spun around to fight off his wife, giving Alex time to steady herself. She threw her body hard against his and attempted to pry his hands loose, getting elbowed several times in the process. Her head was still spinning. Someone was thrown to the floor and a loud _snap_ reverberated around the room. Everyone froze. Alex ignored her bleeding lip, and bruised face. Claire was clinging onto the wall for dear life, tears streaming down her face, and Ben was panting heavily in the center of the room.

"Oh my god…" Alex stared at her father in disbelief and ran to her mom's side. She almost threw up when she noticed the odd angle her head was twisted at. She didn't move. Alex hurriedly felt for a pulse. Nothing.

"She's dead…" she croaked. Claire fell to her knees, hand covering her mouth and Alex started shaking violently.

"You killed her…" the anger bubbled inside her and she launched herself across the room, fists swinging.

"You _killed her!_" she screamed as she pounded ineffectually against his chest. Ben grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arm's length.

"It was an accident Aly, you saw. She came at me - "

She spit in his face and continued to throw everything she had at him. He maintained his hold on her.

"Aly! Please stop!" Claire begged quietly. "Please don't…" she broke down in tears and Alex stopped her pointless attack. Her father released her and shoved her across the room towards her sister.

Claire immediately threw her arms around Alex and sobbed quietly into her chest as they crumpled together in a ball on the floor. Alex muffled her own tears in her free hand.

"Who are you calling?" she managed a few minutes later when her dad reached for the phone. She was scared for the answer but she asked it anyway.

"A friend…" he began distractedly.

"Not the police I'm assuming…"

"Shut the fuck up and let me think!"

Claire had only just calmed down from hysterical to quietly crying and Alex said nothing else. She just stared in horror at her mother's lifeless body on the floor, pooling in blood.

* * *

ONE WEEK LATER

"What do you guys want for dinner?" Bill asked gently as they stepped into the house.

"Whatever you feel like." Claire said quietly, her eyes puffy and red from exhaustion. Her head was lowered to the ground and she placed her purse gently on the hall table and removed her jacket.

"Alex?"

Alex ignored him; forgetting to take off her shoes as she wandered into the kitchen.

"Aly, do you want some dinner?" Claire began gently.

Again, Alex said nothing. She pulled some water out of the fridge and took a long drink.

"Sweetie…" Bill began carefully. "You have to eat something."

She put the cap back on the bottle and headed for the stairs.

"I'm not hungry."

Claire's eyes welled with fresh tears as she watched her sister go.

"Uncle Bill, she's barely eaten since…"

"I know, honey. She just needs some space."

At that Claire collapsed in tears and her uncle pulled her into his arms, his own eyes stinging as she buried her head in his chest.

"He didn't even come…" she sobbed. "To Mom's funeral…his wife…he didn't even come…I thought he would."

Bill just sighed and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Do you know where he is?" Claire stuttered after a few minutes.

"No, Claire. I don't know where he went. But listen…" he held her hands gently. "Your parents didn't have a will and since your grandparents are getting older…' he stroked her hair gently off her face. "They want to give me custody."

Claire's eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded. "What do you think?"

She started to cry again as she stood on tip toe and kissed his cheek, her arms tightening around his neck.

"Alex…" He knocked gently. The music was blaring loudly on her speakers and she did not respond.

"Aly…" he tried again, louder. Still no answer.

"Al – "

"Go away!" came her stifled retort. She sounded choked up.

"Honey I need to talk to you - "

"I said not now!" she snapped. "I'll come down later."

Bill ran his hands exhaustively through his hair.

"Alright…we'll save you some dinner…"

* * *

Age 19

"Hey Joel." Alex smiled at the older security guard as she pulled her car up to the gate.

"Alex!" he smiled brightly when he saw her. "How are you, sweetie? Home for the summer?"

"Yeah…" she rolled her eyes a little. "They really try and annihilate you first year. I'm lucky I made it through finals."

"What's your major?"

"Chemistry." She laughed a little. "I dunno what the hell I was thinking."

"I'm sure you did fine." He assured her easily. "I guess you're relieved your uncle's back in LA then…"

She nodded. "But I already told him I was _not_ getting stuck in Seattle…Claire's at boarding school here so we kept the house."  
"Have you met anyone in the office yet?"

She shook her head. "Claire did, but very briefly. I was actually hoping to catch him before he left for that meeting this afternoon."

"Ahhh I'm sorry, honey. He left an hour ago."

"Damn it." She groaned. "I'm trying to get him to give me a job for the summer."

"Y'know most kids work at McDonald's or the mall or…"

"Yeah, well I'm not most kids." She grinned. "Do you know when he's coming back?"

"No idea. I can try and find out for you though…"

"You're the best."

She heard him speaking on the phone to someone briefly. He was transferred once, looked slightly agitated, and then hung up the phone. He returned to Alex.

"Alright, he's supposed to be back within the hour. They're sending someone from security down and you can wait inside."

"I owe you one, Joel."

He smiled sympathetically and unlocked the gate so she could park her car. "Security will meet you at the entrance."

A middle-aged man in a white, short sleeved shirt and black slacks met her at the entrance. She didn't recognize him.

"Ms. Evans?" she nodded and he handed her a Visitor badge. "Ms. Dessler's expecting you." He explained as they proceeded in doors.

She had no idea who the hell he was talking about but didn't ask. He didn't seem in the mood to talk and she'd find out soon enough.

"Mr. Buchanan's office is just a few doors down." He indicated to the back corner to a door that was practically hidden from view as they stepped off the elevator.

"Can I just wait in there until he gets back?" she tried, taking advantage of the conversation.

"I'm sorry." The guard shook his head. "You can't be in here unless you're supervised. Ms. Dessler's agreed to sign you in so you can wait until he arrives. She's dealing with something in IT at the moment, but should be here momentarily."

He pushed open the door of an office off the main corridor that was significantly bigger than all the others. They passed a bunch of people sitting at computers in the center of an open room on their way towards it. They looked busy, but she garnered more than a few curious looks.

"Have a seat." He indicated to one of the chairs opposite the desk.

"Do you need anything?"

"No thanks." She responded politely.

"I'll just wait outside then."

A woman with her dark hair plastered back from her face turned the corner a few minutes later. She had files in her hand and walked purposefully down the corridor. One man rose from his computer and hurried to keep up with her, offering her another document. She grabbed it from him, glanced briefly, and scribbled something on the paper before returning it to him. Alex noticed her navy suit was perfectly pressed as she got closer. Despite the eruption of commotion from some of the others on the computers, the woman didn't look the least bit frazzled. Alex wiped her sweaty palms on the thighs of her jeans that could do with a good wash and tried to smooth the wrinkles out of her t-shirt; preparing for the introduction. She felt out of place now; like a child. She should've changed before she came. Alex watched as the woman nodded curtly as the guard pulled the door open for her. Alex's stomach churned.

She rose as the woman stepped across the room towards her.

"Hi…Alex?" the woman asked as they came face to face. Alex nodded briefly.

The woman smiled politely. "I'm Michelle Dessler."


	2. Camisado

Disenchanted

Chapter One – Camisado

_This is the sound of dead skin_

_On a linoleum floor. _

_This is the sound of _

_Quarantine wings in a hospital._

_It's not so pleasant _

_And it's not so conventional._

_It sure as hell ain't normal,_

_But we deal, we deal…_

_**- Camisado by Panic at the Disco**_

He, Frances Hewitt, was drunk as anything, he noted as his vision blurred over and the bartender shot him a wary look. It had to be almost 12:30 he realized now, and was somewhat surprised at such a late shift change. The newest bartender, a young, clean-cut, blondish-brown haired guy was now wiping down the counter and raising a surreptitious eyebrow when Frances – Frankie – asked for another.

"C'mon man, I ain't doin' nothing." he said in a broken Southern drawl. "Youz can call me a cab at two." He slurred painfully as the young man looked on. Frankie's attention, however, was diverted when the seat beside him became occupied and he turned to face the individual that had done so.

His mouth hung open a little when he saw the person – though he wasn't sure if their striking appearance was something to attribute to bad beer goggles or not. Her loosely curled ashy-blonde hair hung delicately over her shoulders and she wore nothing but a comfortably fitted pair of jeans and a crisp white blouse with a few more buttons than necessary undone. As she ordered her own drink, vodka and soda, her eyes drifted around the bar, focusing on nothing in particular. When the drink was placed in front of her she noticed Frankie staring and turned to face him.

His jaw dropped even further and his already dry mouth became drier when his clouded gaze locked on her ice blue eyes. They, at the very least, were striking, beer goggles or not.

She looked young – very young. Her skin was creamy and smooth, her cheeks were rosy and her lips were full and only excited him further as her tongue appeared ever so slightly at the opening when she licked the last bit of vodka off. For a moment he considered whether she might be a hooker – escort – whatever they called themselves; but her attire was subdued and her makeup minimal, not to mention that she seemed totally disinterested in him, who would've easily cut himself off from drinking for the rest of the week in favor of a little close, personal attention.

"Lemme buy ya a drink." He stuttered seductively at her and she cocked her head to one side, eyebrows raised.

"No thanks." She told him coolly, turning back to the bartender and taking a swig. If he had been more intuitive he might've realized that that, more than anything, suggested she wasn't a prostitute; it was more of a masculine swig than a delicate sip. Besides that, her hands were rough and callused; her nails cracked and gnawed off.

"How come?" he mumbled in confusion, eliciting a slightly amused look. She held her full drink and swished it slightly in her hand, the ice clinking against the glass and her eyes wandering for a second, before she placed it back on the table with a light _thud_.

"You look too young to be in here." He commented lecherously, his gaze lingering about six inches south of those strikingly blue eyes.

"You look to drunk to be in here." She countered sarcastically and her eyes darted around the room yet again.

He chuckled slightly at her bravado.

"What're ya, a student or somethin'?" he drawled.

She shrugged. "Something like that…"

"You got a boyfriend?"

She raised her eyebrows again. "Would it matter if I did?"

Again, he chuckled.

"You're ballsy…I like it. C'mon sweetheart, how come you won't lemme buy ya a drink?"

She fiddled with her earring and smirked a little.

"Can you keep a secret?" she asked suggestively and he nodded eagerly. She leaned in over the music, her lips brushing against his cheek as she cupped her hand over her mouth; the sour stench of whiskey bathing her face.

"I'd stay as far away from me as possible if I were you."

He started to ask her what the hell that was supposed to mean, but before he could she slammed a ten dollar bill on the bar, downed her drink in one quick gulp and walked away, leaving Frankie feeling a little dumbfounded and the bartender smiling quietly to himself.

The girl strode across the floor, past the dancers, and situated herself against a wall, taking a deep breath. Idiot drunks…at least he had bought her some time to check things out – time was all she needed.

She spotted what she was looking for a few feet away from where she was standing and felt her stomach tighten. Joseph Mironova. He was relatively young, all things considered, and seemed to be enjoying watching a few of the provocatively dressed women parade across the dance floor as he sipped slowly on a drink of some sort. With a deep breath she fluffed her hair, pulled her shirt lower, and proceeded to Mironova.

"I take it you don't dance." She said sweetly as she came to stand beside him. Mironova turned and looked her up and down once before deciding she was attractive enough and directing his full attention to her.

"Not well." He commented, his perfect English accented subtly with a Russian. She had known this though. She knew everything about him, down to the name of the dog he'd had in his youth and the illegitimate child he'd fathered 5 years before.

"Neither do I." she smiled delicately and inched a little more towards him, close enough that he caught the light scent of her perfume.

"And what are you doing here by yourself on a Friday night?" he flirted back, moving closer on his own this time, so their bodies bumped a little.

She giggled flirtatiously. "Drinking. It's been a long week."

He nodded understandingly. "I've had the same problem for the last month. It was time for a break."

She smiled and nodded.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

He shook his head. "I'm a graduate student at UCLA…they sent me here to do my thesis."

"Do you like it?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes. I get lonely though."

She pouted her lip at the comment and he smiled. He'd come out – against advisement – with every intention of getting laid. He'd just expected to have to work a little bit harder before the opportunity arose.

"What about…" his voice trailed off and his eyes moved towards a window.

She frowned at him.

"Are you alright?"

After a second he nodded and turned back to her. "I thought I saw something."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure…"

She touched his arm seductively. "Y'know…hallucinations are a sign you need to relax a little…"

She inched in a closer and pressed her body into his. She felt him tense and smiled.

"We'll have to see what we can do about that…" her hand slipped into the small of his back and lingered on it gently. He stared at her for a few seconds and considered taking advantage of her less-than-subtle innuendos when something caught his eye a second time.

At that precise moment however, her lips crashed down on his and her hands slid beneath his shirt and pressed against his dampened skin. His body responded intuitively and he pushed his tongue into her mouth as he spun her around and slammed her against the nearest wall.

A flash of street light got his attention and he grabbed the girl, pulling her towards the back alley without a word. She looked surprised and hesitated when he latched onto her wrist, but after a few seconds she was following him without protest.

They were here. He knew they were here. He knew they had found him.

The impulsive, split second decision had cost him his main advantage: a crowd. Suddenly, he was cornered, the only escape route blocked by a chain link fence, and a single hostage separated him from capture.

"CTU, freeze!" the man out front shouted; whose voice he recognized but whose face he couldn't see because of the glare.

In one swift move he'd pulled a small pistol from the inside of his calf and drew the girl in front of him in plain view of the agents.

"One more step and she gets a bullet in her head!" he shouted back. Mironova tugged on the woman's hair, exposing her pale neck and enabling the agents to see her chest heaving as he pressed the gun against her. Her eyes had fallen shut and her heart was pounding. He felt a flicker of remorse at the sight. Stupid bitch never could've seen it coming.

"It's over, Joseph." The voice he'd recognized stated again calmly. "Let her go and we'll work something out."

"Like hell you will." He hissed bitterly and tightened his grip as the agent took another step. "One more move and she gets it…I swear to god!"

The girl glanced up, eyes open now, and he was surprised to find there was no panic. Instead she looked remarkably calm.

Mironova barely had time to think twice when he found the arm containing the gun being twisted painfully and the weapon knocked out of his hand as the girl flipped him in front of her. He retaliated but she delivered two hard blows to his face in record time before drawing a weapon and slamming him into a slab of concrete just as the rest of the field team swarmed on their position. Her breathing was ragged, but she did not ease her hold on him until he had a pair of men on each side.

Mironova watched, his lip gushing blood, as he was restrained and the man whose voice he recognized, apparently in charge, approached the girl and spoke softly to her, his hand on her shoulder, brushing her hair off her neck. After a few seconds he called for a medic.

"I don't need a medic." She protested. "He barely - "

"Almeida!" Mironova screamed through the commotion. "You son of a bitch, I should've known it was you!" he struggled to move towards the other man. "I'm surprised no one's killed you yet -"

"Shut up…" the girl shouted at him as though she was merely irritated by being interrupted.

"Who's the little whore? You need the women to do your dirty work for you - "

Rick Almeida's fist clenched and his chest tightened, but he was more focused on the girl who had moved face-to-face with the Mironova. Her eyes flashed, ignoring the feeling of Rick's hand on her again, attempting to pull her away.

She remained stone faced.

"Al…c'mon…we gotta get him back to CTU." Rick started to pull her away and she conceded reluctantly, leaving her eyes on Mironova until the last possible second.

"That was your buddy I shot before, wasn't it? Anderson, I think? His wife was pregnant I heard…I also heard he bled out a few hours before Search and - "

The girl swung around and threw a hard punch, smashing his head against the wall. She shoved Mironova, her 9mm pressed into his temple as he moaned, unable to contain himself at the pain radiating through him.

"You're lucky_ I_ don't kill you right now…" she threatened through gritted teeth, her small hand tightening around his throat as he struggled for air. The blood fell into his mouth, only complicating the task further.

Sweat was forming on her brow and her hair had turned into a pile of frizz.

"Alex!" Rick, who didn't seem to feel any strong desire to stop the assault, finally called her back, knowing they needed to get to CTU. She shoved Mironova once more before spinning on her heel and returning to Rick's side.

"You can't lose your temper like that." He warned her as they proceeded towards the street and she shook out her hand which was throbbing.

"He murdered Anderson and Davies and - " her voice broke and she looked away.

"Yeah, I know. I was there." Rick snapped in aggravation. "You still have to control your temper."

She scowled and pushed through the crowd as the rest of the team prepared Mironova for transport.

The bartender – Wiley – approached them both.

"Hey guys, you want me to ride with transport?"

Rick nodded. "Yeah, keep a close eye on him…I wouldn't be surprised if he tries something."

Wiley nodded, and latched onto Alex's arm as they started to walk towards their cars.

"You alright, Al?" his hazel eyes narrowed slightly in concern. She nodded and winked at him.

"Next time use real vodka and I'll _really_ be okay."

Wiley laughed and smacked her lightly on the arm. "I'll see ya in a bit, guys."

"Don't take your gun off him." Alex warned darkly, throwing a fleeting glance at Mironova as he was loaded into the truck.

Wiley nodded and they parted.

* * *

"Buchanan."

"Bill, it's Rick. Mironova's in custody and we're on our way back to CTU now." He reeled off as he pulled onto the main road. Alex had the mirror open and was redoing the buttons on her shirt and pulling her hair back into a loose bun.

"Good. How far out are you?"

"About 20 minutes…" Rick accelerated gently, feeling his heart rate finally come down after the action of the past hour.

"Alright, I'll have Chloe prepare a Holding room."

"Thanks."

There was a moment of silence.

"How is she?" he asked, lowering his voice.

Rick sighed and glanced towards the passenger seat.

"Fine…everyone's fine." He responded noncommittally. "None of our people were injured."

Bill breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

"Yeah…" Rick sighed. "We'll see you in 20."

Rick's phone was ringing less than ten minutes later.

"We have a situation." Bill told him immediately. "It involves your brother."

Rick's eyes widened in disbelief and Alex looked at him with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Jack Bauer just contacted me. He's got reason to believe that Tony is a target…"

"By who?"

Bill sighed. "The same people who got Michelle."

"But…" Rick's blood ran cold. "I thought that was because they knew Jack was alive…"

"He didn't give me very many details, but they're on their way to CTU now."

"Are they being pursued?"

"As far as Jack can tell no, but we're putting Field Agents on standby here. They're about five minutes out. Redirect your team and Mironova to Division and you can proceed with the interrogation there."

"What's going on?" Alex asked as Rick snapped the phone shut.

"They're after Tony."

Her heart stopped. "Who is?"

"I don't know. Jack Bauer called Bill…"

"I thought Bauer was missing…"

"I guess someone pulled him out of China."

"How'd you know he was in China?" she raised her eyebrows. He said nothing and stared at the road ahead.

"Rick!" she snapped. "What the hell's going on?"

"Look, he's bringing Tony to CTU. I have no idea what's going on. We're supposed to go to Division"

Alex swore quietly before unbuckling her seatbelt and crawling into the backseat as Rick picked up his phone again and began redirecting the rest of the team.

"What are you doing?" he asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"Counting ammo…" she muttered, digging through the stores and pulling out a few extra weapons, clips, and a Kevlar vest each. Rick raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well _I'm _not going to Division, are you?" she rebutted with a hint of arrogance.

He stared at her for a second before shaking his head slowly. Bill's orders or not, it would've taken every ounce of manpower they possessed to pull her away from the lion's den – especially when it involved his brother.

"Right…so I'm counting the ammo."

Rick didn't say anything else. His face was contorted seriously. Alex broke the silence when she returned to the passenger seat.

"Hey…" she touched his shoulder. "Talk to me…"

"I just wanna get there…" he uttered under his breath. "I hope it's not too late."

"They're fine." She told him calmly. "Tony's smart and you guys have been going on about Jack Bauer since I've known you… He can get them both to CTU alive."

"It's not that simple…" he swallowed hard, missing the teasing in her voice.

"Rick…" she said seriously, facing him head on. "Tony will be fine. We're less than ten minutes out."

He nodded and continued to drive, full speed ahead.

* * *

They were still a good six or seven minutes away when she spoke again.

"You knew where he was." She stated flatly, her eyes focused the pathway their headlights carved through the darkness. "Bauer…"

Rick sighed heavily.

"Did you extract him from China?"

He bit his lip. "Yes."

"Without me?" she hissed. "Is that where you were when you told me you spent three weeks at Quantico?"

"You weren't ready." He stated flatly.

"Bullshit. We'd just got back from Russia! I was more ready than anyone else you could've taken!"

"It was a covert op. Bill named the team…he just asked me to lead it."

"And I'm supposed to believe you had no influence over who you took?"

"He said if I took you I wasn't going…it was dangerous and he wasn't going to be the one who authorized you coming. I took Curtis and Wiley and we had a few Marines to assist. I figured it was more important that I be there for Jack instead of both of us not going."

Alex said nothing. She was fuming.

"We'll deal with this later, alright? Let's just get to CTU."

"I didn't tell you to stop driving did I?" she retorted bitterly.

"Damnit Alex. It's not like I didn't want you there…I fought like hell to get _your uncle _to let me hire you after that." he sighed heavily. "There are more important things to worry about now."

She looked as though she might protest, but stopped. He took that to mean she agreed.

CTU was still a few blocks away and Rick felt something wasn't right. He didn't even want to imagine what would be waiting for them when they arrived at CTU.

When they turned the corner into the parking garage their car was immediately thrown into the middle of a barrage of bullets. Rick swerved to avoid a gunman in a black mask while Alex, never flinching, began loading the rounds into a few rifles.

"Keep your head down!" Rick warned as him maneuvered the car to a stop and they were instantly surrounded by gunmen. Out of the corner of her eye Alex noted another vehicle, a small black sedan that also had bullet proof glass.

"Where the hell's the backup?" Alex shouted as a few bullets were fired, almost tauntingly, in the middle of the windshield.

"I dunno but we can't stay like this forever!" A second bullet hit the glass, cracking it slightly and Alex started a little in her seat. She took in her surroundings quickly, noticing that her side of the car was partially shielded by another vehicle. She nudged Rick and pointed to the back door.

"There's too many of them…" he argued.

"Well, we can't stay here! We're sitting ducks. This is our only chance…"

Rick took his own quick survey of the situation and realized she was right.

"Fine…I'm going out first, cover me…"

"Rick - !" she protested.

"_You_ cover _me_!" His word was final and she knew it. She nodded and tightened her hold on her rifle as Rick crawled into the backseat and put on his Flak jacket.

"Ready?"

She nodded again and took a deep breath.

"On three…" he began slowly.

"One…" he reached for the door handle.

"Two…" they both crouched, ready to jump on cue.

"Three!" Rick tumbled out of the car and onto the concrete beneath them, taking out a hostile in the process. Alex followed instantaneously, firing a clean shot that hit the nearest masked man.

"Ten-o-clock…" he shouted to her and she spun around and pulled the trigger, another hostile dropping to their feet.

"Where are Tony and Jack?!" she shouted over the gunfire. Something had transpired in the other vehicle being ambushed and she was starting to get worried.

Rick's phone started to vibrate against his leg and he flipped it open as he leaned back against the car for cover.

Alex could not hear the conversation, she had perched herself behind one wheel and proceeded to kill or critically injure three hostiles simultaneously.

"Tony and Jack are in the other car…they need help." Rick informed her, placing a hand on her back. The attention of the rest of the attackers seemed to be directed at that car now and was giving them an opening.

"We can make a run for it…" she decided, panting heavily. Rick nodded.

"We have to go fast…there's no cover over there…"

"I know." She gulped and took a few deep breaths

After a few seconds he grabbed her arm.

"You ready?"

"Yeah…"

They simultaneously leapt from behind the car and raced towards the other vehicle, Alex taking the lead. An armed man approached her but she disarmed him quickly and snapped his neck. Rick was hot on her heels, laying down cover fire as they crossed the parking lot.

"Tony!" Alex cried in relief as she dove beneath the cover of the second car. Bauer was at the other end, firing at some hostiles.

"What the hell are ya doing?!" he exclaimed, pulling her behind him and pushing her against the wall.

"Helping you!" she blasted back as Rick joined them.

"Like hell you are…"

"Stop being a hero…" she snapped as she pushed him away and began to move. "I'm saving your ass."

No matter how many rounds she fired, the numbers of hostiles bearing down upon them never seemed to dwindle. She shot a quick glance between Rick, Tony and Jack before securing herself behind one tire and dialing frantically.

"Nadia Yassir."

"Nadia, it's Alex. Where the hell is our backup?"

"They should be down there." Nadia responded, her quick typing echoing over the phone. "We sent Easton and Blackwell…"

"You sent _two_?" Alex exclaimed incredulously. "We're seven to one out here. Get me a damn field team!"

"I'll call Field Ops right away."

Alex snapped the phone shut without another word. A bullet whizzed past her left shoulder blade, cutting it close. She peaked her head out cautiously before firing a few of her own shots.

A grunt from her far left startled Alex and she spun around quickly.

"Rick!" she cried out breathlessly, launching herself to where he now lay writhing on the ground, his right arm clutching his left. Alex felt a wave of nausea wash over her as her eyes adjusted to the pavement and the blood that was pooling at her feet.


	3. The Good Left Undone

Disenchanted

_**A/N: **__Okay so this is chapter two…yay! Haha. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed chapter one. I really appreciate getting feedback (in general, but on this story in particular). I also meant to mention before that I've basically titled each chapter with a song that sort of inspired it in some way shape or form. Some of the titles fit better than others so I made some accommodations but that's the general idea at least…_

_Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! _

Chapter Two – The Good Left Undone

_Not a day goes by _

_When I don't feel this burn. _

_There's a point we pass_

_From which we can't return. _

_I felt the cold rain of the coming storm…_

_All because of you.  
_

_**- The Good Left Undone by Rise Against**_

"_Michelle!" Alex pushed through the crowd of analysts who were combing around the transport vehicles getting ready to go to CTU. Alex was to stay at Division and help make sure all the pertinent information was getting where it needed to go. And despite the fact that she'd much rather being going to where the real action was, she could at least take comfort in knowing that Michelle was putting her where she really thought she needed to be. _

_However, this one piece of information couldn't wait. _

_"Michelle!" Alex screamed louder and a few of the people turned to look at her with raised eyebrows, she ignored them and hurried towards Michelle's car. They resented her for being 'the intern' that could safely refer to her as something other than "Ms. Dessler" because of who her uncle was. _

_Michelle already had one leg in the door when she heard her name and turned around. _

_"What's wrong?" Michelle looked concerned. "Did something change?" _

_Alex panted lightly. "Did you check the update I sent to your PDA?" _

_"Not in the last ten minutes…why? What's wrong?" _

_Alex gulped hard. "Bill just got an update from Secretary Heller. When Driscoll stepped down the acting director wasn't Curtis Manning…" _

_Michelle frowned. "Who is it?" she asked sternly. Alex glanced around carefully, took a step closer, and lowered her voice. _

_"Alex, what's going - "_

_"It's Tony." _

_The words resonated but it took Michelle a few seconds to process them. It couldn't be. He couldn't be…_

_"Are you…" she cleared her throat. "Are you sure?" _

_Alex nodded vigorously. "I was in the office when Heller called… Jack Bauer had him reinstated earlier today… Bill's probably gonna call you to tell you but uh…I just thought you should…"_

_"No. Thank you." _

_"Will you be okay?" _

_Michelle thought for a moment before stating a firm "yes". They were professionals, or they had been, they could do this. _

_Michelle squeezed the girl's arm gently. "Updates every half hour, okay?" _

_"Yeah…" Alex bit her lip a little in disbelief. "You too." _

_Michelle managed a small, ironic laugh before getting into her car and driving off, leaving a concerned Alex standing in the parking garage. _

_Less than a day later, Alex was being escorted into CTU flanked by security. The badge hanging off her jeans said "Visitor" and she garnered more than a few curious looks as she moved through the bullpen. She scanned the crowd anxiously, looking for a familiar face, and her eyes got drawn to several monitors, one with the updated casualty projections from the St. Gabriel reactor meltdown and the other at the other portraying Habib Marwan's known associates that were being tracked down at that very moment. An analyst with blonde hair pulled tightly off her face and a sour expression answered her phone and a minute later had hung up and was glancing around the room. _

_"Tony!" she called, sounding slightly irritated and Alex whirled around in time to see the man who was obviously Tony Almeida cross the bullpen without giving her and the little entourage of security guards a second look. _

_"We've been instructed to take you to a Holding room until - " the man to her left began. _

_"What for!?" Alex exclaimed angrily. "I'm here to work and I can't do much good from a Holding room." _

_"I'm sorry, but Ms. Dessler and Mr. Buchanan got called away to District a few minutes before you arrived and we can't have you in here unsupervi - "_

_"Why can't you just stay with me until one of them gets back to sign me in?" _

_"We're very busy today…" _

_"Yeah you sure as hell looked it!" _

_"Miss…" _

_"I've got over fifty profiles worked up on different terrorist cells across the country not to mention everything I have on the individual's running them, so until you can beat __**that**__ - "_

_"Miss, if you're going to get hostile I'm afraid we're going to have to remove you from the premises - "_

_"Are you kidding me?" she stared at him incredulously. "I - "_

_"She's fine." A voice echoed amongst the now quiet bullpen. Alex hadn't realized what a commotion she'd caused until she stopped talking. She turned around to face Tony Almeida who was leaning back casually against one of the desks, his arms folded across his chest. He had barely raised the volume of his voice above a whisper but there was no doubt who was in charge in that moment. _

_The security guard who had grabbed her elbow released her. _

_"Are you sure, Tony?" _

_He nodded gruffly. "Yeah…I'll vouch for her. She's from Division. She's fine." _

_The guards left without another word and Alex readjusted her jacket and pushed her hair behind her ears, twirling it uncomfortably between her fingers. _

_"Thanks." She muttered quietly, not meeting his eyes. _

_"Yeah…sure…Alex, right?" _

_"Yeah. Evans." She bit her lip, unknowingly mirroring his expression. _

_"Tony Almeida." He extended a hand briefly, which she shook, making a particular point to keep her grip solid. "Michelle and Bill had to go to District to brief them on our status. Michelle tried to call you…They should be back soon." _

_"Okay…" she fidgeted uncomfortably. "I guess I'll just…put these on her desk or something and wait until she - "_

_"You have profiles?" he raised an eyebrow. _

_"Yes." She stated crisply, finding her nerve. "Stuff on every one of Marwan's known cells throughout the country and who runs them. If we bring anyone connected to it in any way we'll have all of the background information we need to interrogate them. It just needs to be compiled and sent to Langley for backup." _

_"Alright…I'll give it to one of the analysts so they can start compiling it." He extended a hand and she hesitated. _

_"You have a soft copy, right - ?"_

_"Obviously." She snapped, pulling the USB from her bag and hesitating again before she placed it in his open palm. _

_He muttered bitterly as he told her to "stay right there" as he turned back to the blonde woman and spoke to her briefly. He had ushered Alex into the Situation room a minute later. _

_"Michelle told me you were coming." _

_Alex said nothing, so he continued. _

_"Anyway, I got some stuff you can do for me for now, you brought a computer?" _

_"Yes." She pulled open her laptop. "But if you're just trying to give me stuff to do to keep me out of your hair; I can wait for Michelle and Bill. I'm not in the mood to be stuck doing mindless busywork." _

_"Believe me, kiddo. I spent way too much time doing that yesterday…I wouldn't do that to ya…" _

_She brushed her hair out of her eyes and he ran his fingers through his own. _

_"Aren't you an intern anyway?" _

_"What's your point?" _

_His jaw cocked to one side. "Your job is…defined as busywork." _

_She laughed hollowly. "Yeah, because I see a lot of other interns getting called over from Division…" she snorted "Trust me, I make myself useful. I have the same clearance as any of the level-one analysts on the floor." _

_"So if I asked you to look through a file we acquired from a hard drive for a company in San Francisco that was believed to have dealings with one of Marwan's cells and flag any inconsistencies…you'd be able to do that?" _

_She stared at him. She'd never done something like that before. The stuff she did was usually things that weren't under serious time constraints and that weren't necessarily do or die to a situation. If she made a mistake here she could screw up a lot of things. _

_"You want me to do that?" _

_He shrugged. "Unless you think it's busywork…" _

_"No, I just - "_

_"Alright then, I'll have Chloe forward some files to your system. You can work from here unless something changes…lemme know if you find anything." _

_"Um…" she felt a little embarrassed now at having been such a bitch. He obviously had a reason for giving her this and whatever it was, however two-faced, she'd do what he asked her to if not for the opportunity, but to prove she could. Whatever he was still a jerk…and a drunk. A day spent catching terrorists didn't change a person…_

* * *

She put a bullet through the head of the masked man who'd fired the lethal shot without hesitation or a wasted round, before she and Tony dragged Rick out of the line of fire as he struggled to breathe and his face contorted in pain.

"Jack, how many are there?" Tony yelled, slightly nauseated when he realized how much blood was coming from his brother.

"I count upwards of twenty, but I can't figure out their positions in the dark. I need some cover…"

Alex had already ripped off her blouse and was fumbling with Rick's belt when Tony shot her a look.

"I'll do this…" she assured him, seeing how conflicted he was between leaving his brother and helping his friend. Tony nodded and moved back into position.

"C'mon Rick…" she coaxed softly as she examined the wound. She needed to stop the bleeding if he was going to have any chance of pulling through. Her eyes stung when she saw how pale he'd gone and realized he was slowly losing consciousness.

"Rick!" she tried to get his attention. Her hand moved from his arm for an instant and she grabbed his face.

"Look at me…" she ordered, the lump in her throat growing by the second. "You do not get to fall asleep on me, okay? You're gonna stay awake for me…"

She struggled to prevent her voice from cracking as he nodded weakly. She continued to talk to him – or force him to talk to her – as she pulled her blouse as tightly as she could around the wound and prayed to whatever higher power there was that the bleeding would stop. She gripped the belt between her teeth and tightened it, wrapping it several times over, and then dragging Rick to the wall for more cover.

"You still with me?" she half-pleaded. He nodded, his gasps coming shallower now.

"Rick, breathe slowly…" the tears filled her eyes when it occurred to her that his pulse was out of control. "The back up will be here any second…But I need you to hang in there for me."

"How many down?" she screamed at Jack as she joined him again.

"Four or five…our weapons aren't long range and if we try to get any closer they'll pick us off like flies."

"There are rifles in the car but - " a bullet zoomed past her head and she dropped to the floor, before shooting cover fire around the side, allowing Jack to pick off one of the hostiles who'd ventured too close. They were wasting too much ammo to be effective right now.

She was sandwiched between the two men and was completely on her stomach when a light sprung from inside and the doors flew open.

"Tac team's here!" she told them both, relief flooding through her system as a swarm of agents entered the garage, guns blazing.

"Everybody down!" they screamed and Alex, Jack and Tony collectively dropped their guns and fell to the pavement, waiting for the field teams to complete their sweep.

"Agent Evans!" someone ran to her, glancing at Rick quickly. "How do you want to proceed?"

"Cut off their exit!" she cleared her throat, jumping to her feet. "Take anyone you can alive, and somebody get me a Medic!"

"Yes miss."

It was over in three minutes. The final assault managed to secure one hostile alive. The Medical team had arrived seconds after they were given the all-clear and were loading Rick onto a gurney shortly afterwards.

* * *

"Buchanan."

"Me…" she sighed heavily and strode briskly away from the commotion; she was sweating profusely and brought a hand to her forehead to stop her head from spinning at what had just happened. She felt sick.

"Rick's being transported to Medical now…"

"There's a team standing by to receive him. I called in reinforcements from Division to take over Field Ops."

"You what?"

"You're not qualified to handle it by yourself, Alex. We need more experience."

"What about Bauer?" she lowered her voice and cupped her hand over her mouth. He was most definitely better than any candidate Division had.

"Jack does what Jack needs to do." He told her quietly. "I can't rely on him to always be there to coordinate field operations and tactical."

"I can - " she started to protest.

"I'm not arguing over this." He stated flatly, ending the discussion. "What's the situation right now?"

She bit her lip in frustration.

"Tactical is cleaning up the area and Forensics will have a report within the hour."

"Good."

"What's happening on that end?"

"We're no further to finding out what these people wanted with Tony than we were before."

"What about the interrogation with Mironova?"

"That's being dealt with as we speak. Wiley's handling that."

"Alright." She gulped hard.

"Do you think Mironova could have anything to do with the attack on Tony?"

She bit her lip, considering the question that had been plaguing her ever since she heard the news.

"It's one hell of a coincidence if he doesn't…but we need more..."

"Al…" she turned around to see Tony and Jack approaching her. Neither seemed too beaten up.

"Bill said you were going to Division…"

"He thought we were." She said while busying herself with an empty clip, as though it was the most obvious statement in the world.

"You almost killed yourself…" Tony tensed as he spoke and Alex sighed.

"Give it a rest, Tony." She stated firmly. "I can't have the whole world worrying about me. It's exhausting."

He sighed heavily and scratched the back of his neck. Alex reached over and squeezed his arm affectionately before they both turned to Jack.

"Jack Bauer…Alex Evans."

They shook, eyeing each other carefully and saying nothing.

* * *

Alex, Tony and Jack walked briskly through the halls of CTU a couple of minutes later. The bright lights disoriented Alex momentarily as she crossed the bullpen at lightening speed. Jack stopped briefly to say something to Chloe O'Brian and Tony glanced around uncomfortably.

"Hey, you alright?" Jack creased his brow slightly when he noticed this.

"Fine…" Tony half-scowled, already sick of people asking. "What's this about Jack?"

"I don't know much. I was underground after they got me out of China and I came in contact with some Russians who claimed to be involved in everything that happened the day Logan was arrested. I stuck with them and eventually your name came up…someone realized who I was before I could get anything more out of them…."

"Well that was a hell of a lot more than an assassination attempt!"

Jack sighed heavily. "I know. Tony, I'm sorry, that's all I've got right now."

Tony scratched his brow tiredly.

"Just when you think it can't get any worse…" he uttered under his breath.

Jack apologized sincerely. "I didn't want to bring you into this again but…"

"Yeah I know." he shrugged. "It's just the way it is."

His eyes landed on Alex as she returned from Field Ops, having dropped off her gear. The tank top she wore was coated in blood, as were her forearms, and a smear on her cheek. Bill descended down the stairs at that moment and pulled her into an embrace without hesitation, his fingers combing through her matted hair. Alex didn't seem too eager to respond, but patted his back gently. The obvious display of affection caused Jack to raise an eyebrow.

"Who is she?" he asked quietly.

"Buchanan's niece." Tony leaned back against the desk, and watched Jack's face grow solemn as Bill rubbed her arm firmly, his face rife with concern.

"She's young…" he commented, a slight pang in his chest as he was reminded unwillingly of Kim.

"Twenty-two." Tony bit his lip when Jack stared at him with an expression only Tony would recognize as disbelief. That was exceptionally young – especially for someone who was one move away from running Field Ops entirely…and a girl.

"She uh…" Tony sighed. "She started at Division at nineteen when she was in between years of college. Buchanan wasn't gonna hire her but Michelle…she changed his mind." He winced. "She worked as an intern until Michelle left and I uh…she ended up at Langley with Rick – he trained her."

"She's got a lot more training than Langley." Jack commented.

"She went abroad with him twice assisting Special Forces…SEALs..."

Jack looked mildly impressed and Tony continued.

"She's good, Jack. Rick doesn't take just anyone with him, and after…" his eyes watered slightly. "After Michelle, Rick came back to LA and Buchanan offered him Field Ops. Her getting to come with him was his only condition…I think Bill knew that, to be honest. It's his way of keeping an eye on her…"

Jack nodded a little, sensing Bill wasn't the only person in the room with a close relationship to her.

"How good is she?"

Tony considered this. "Better than Chase ever was from what I can tell…You can trust her; she's one of the few people I still do…"

Jack stared at him for a few seconds before his eyes traveled to the girl again. Her arms were folded across her chest now and she was deep in conversation with Bill.

"Yeah. Okay."

* * *

"Did you hear anything about Rick?" Alex asked Bill, the anxiety obvious in her voice.

"They're seeing if he needs surgery."

She shielded her eyes from him briefly as it occurred to her for the first time that Rick might not pull through. She'd always assumed he'd be fine once they got him to doctors and now…

"How are you?" Bill changed the subject, his brow creased when he saw all the blood she was covered in.

"I'm fine…" she brushed him off, following his eyes. "It's his blood, not mine."

"I told you both to go to Division. It was an order."

"And you must've really been out of your mind when you gave it."

"Your job is to obey orders, not supersede them."

"And _your_ job is to let me do mine and stop trying to sideline me!" the frustration rose in her voice, but she kept the volume low. "Which you could've remembered when you blackmailed Rick into not taking me to China!"

Bill said nothing, but his eyes hardened slightly.

"I'm in _Field Ops._ I am gonna have to shoot a gun once in a while and the fact of the matter is if Rick and I hadn't shown up tonight Tony and Jack would be dead."

Bill sighed heavily, his eyes landing on the two men on the other side of the bullpen.

"I'll meet you inside…" he indicated to the Conference room before walking away.

"Oh…" she spun around quickly. "Where are Blackwell and Easton?"

"Died on the scene."

"Damnit…" she slammed her palm against the wall and walked away, fighting to keep back the emotions that were too close to the surface.

Alex waited a few seconds before proceeding through the glass doors where a handful of analysts and the provisional Head of Field Ops were waiting. It was Ethan Kovack, he ran Field Ops for Division. He was a few years older than Rick and was thoroughly intimidated by him…and she'd called him on it during a meeting once. Rick had laughed quietly beside her and Kovack had been mortified…and seeing as how she'd hit the nail on the head he now used her as an outlet for any sort of animosity he had towards Rick. Apparently he didn't find her as intimidating. His mistake.

"Alex…" he raised his head as she walked inside and stepped away from the wall he'd been leaning against. He extended a hand.

"Good to see you."

She ignored his attempt at friendliness and started to cross the room without so much as a second glance in his direction.

"How's Rick?" she stopped walking.

"Do you actually care, or are you just trying to figure out how long you get to keep his job?" she snapped venomously, finally turning to face him. He had almost eight inches on her five-foot-seven frame, but she stood straight backed as they stared each other down.

Kovack shook his head softly.

"Can't we at least try and be civil?"

She gulped hard. Fine. Civil. She could do civil if it meant a fully functional Field unit.

"I'm sorry." She apologized gruffly and accepted his handshake as the room prepared itself as Bill stepped inside.

"Alright people…." Bill took his position at the head of the table. "We've got a lot to cover right now…For those of you who haven't heard Rick Almeida has been shot." A few of the faces looked shocked and more than one pair of eyes turned to Alex. She intentionally kept her eyes fixated on the table.

"Ethan Kovack and his team are on loan from Division and he will be taking up the position as Head of Field Ops temporarily."

Bill sat down and turned to Kovack

"Where are we with Mironova?"

"So far we have nothing. Burke's on standby and Wiley's started interrogation, but we're in the process of transporting them both back to CTU. If we don't get anything soon we need to get more aggressive."

Alex shook her head bluntly.

"If you put physical pressure on him, he'll clam up and it'll all be for nothing…In the amount of time we have he won't break because you roughed him up a little. He's trained not to."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Leave Mironova to me…" she rolled her eyes subtly. "I know him better than anyone here."

"I'd rather have you on something else."

"Excuse me?"

"You can deal with the situation involving the attack on Tony Almeida…you have ties there too, right?" Kovack stared her down.

"See…now…" she twisted her entire body towards him, eyes flashing and the sarcasm evident in her voice. "You've been here three minutes and already you're pissing me off…"

"We can't all be treat you like your boyfriend does..." he mumbled.

"If you've got something to say to me grow a pair and spit it out, because I swear to god…"

Kovack slammed his first on the table and started to jump out of his seat. Alex tensed, more than ready to jump out of her own chair if need be.

"Enough…" Buchanan warned them and they collectively looked away from each other, Alex silently fuming. It was bullshit. As if it hadn't taken her long enough to prove to Division she was just as capable – if not more so – than any guy they had. Now Kovack was ready to undermine all of that in a few short minutes. If Rick had been there Kovack wouldn't have dared antagonize her. He'd once referred to her as "girlie" in the middle of a meeting with Division and Rick had calmly, (He was always calm, she swore she'd seem him snap twice in the entire time she'd known him) informed Kovack that if he referred to "Agent Evans" as such again he would no longer be capable of voluntary movement…

The sick feeling returned to the back of her throat and she gulped. He'd be fine, she assured herself. He was Rick; he'd been through worse than this. He'd pull through. A little gunshot wound wasn't going to stop him.

"Wiley is fine where he is right now and we can worry about who's doing what when we've assessed the situation in its entirety."

"At least put field agents on the doors…" Alex interjected.

"That's a waste of my men." Kovack stated calmly.

"Are they involved in something pressing right now that I'm not aware of?" she hissed.

"I'm not putting trained Field Operatives on the door of a sealed Holding room when that's what we have security guards for. We have to be ready to move immediately if we get something."

"You don't know what you're dealing with –!"

"It's my call."

She turned to Bill for support and he sighed.

"He's right, Alex. With Rick out of commission and half of Field Ops at Division we don't have the manpower right now. We'll reassess when everyone's back at CTU."

Kovack looked at her smugly and Alex scowled and shook her head in dismay.

"Fine."

* * *

The briefing ended and Alex hadn't been assigned to anything. (Kovack had landed a snide remark in there somewhere about being okay with her acting as the Security Guard for Mironova's room if she thought she could handle it.) Bill wanted to talk to Jack separately and instructed that she should get cleaned up and he would call her when she was needed. Frustrated beyond belief, she took advantage of the opportunity to pay a visit to Medical instead.

Tony was sitting outside Medical, staring silently at the wall. In the next room the doctors worked on Rick and she couldn't tell if he was conscious or not.

"Hey…" she smiled softly as she sat down beside Tony.

He sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"Never thought I'd be here again…" he commented dully. "Stupid, huh?"

She laughed softly, reaching for his hand. She squeezed it affectionately.

"He doesn't need surgery. They're just patching him up now…he'll be fine."

She said nothing, relishing in the feeling of the wave of relief washing over her.

"Did you hear anything about -? "

"No…" she saved him having to finish the sentence. "Right now Bill wants our attention focused on Mironova – he's been eluding us for months – after we make some progress there we'll move onto the other guy and hopefully figure out what the hell is going on."

"I'm sorry about all of this…"

"It's not your fault." He stated dully, his eyes on the floor.

"Tony…" she wiped her sweaty palm against the thighs of her jeans. "We _will _figure this out."

"Yeah, I know. I just…"

His somber expression tugged at her heartstrings. It'd taken him so long to get to the point where he ever remotely resembled who he was before Michelle died. It had taken months of not sleeping or eating and barely even functioning at all…and now he was back at square one. Alex sighed heavily and rested her head against his shoulder as Tony snaked an arm around her and his cheek came to rest against her hair.

"You okay, kiddo?"

She sighed and nodded against him, her eyes closing for a brief moment.

"I'll survive."

The corners of Tony's mouth upturned slightly and he kissed the top of her head.

* * *

"Do we have anything on Mironova yet?" Alex asked Bill and Kovack who were discussing something quietly.

They shook their heads in unison

"Chloe's working up an active lead that we pulled off the system though." Bill stated. "Are the field teams on standby in case we need to move?"

Kovack nodded just as Nadia approached, her brow contorted slightly.

"Has anyone heard from interrogation? Morris was supposed to check in a few minutes ago and normally he's right on schedule but…"

"Who was he working on?"

"He was prepping the system for the guy Alex pulled out of the ambush and then he was supposed to check in when he went back to working on Mironova… I'm just surprised he hasn't - "

Suddenly an alarm sounded and the color drained from Alex's face. She spent all of three seconds staring between Bill and Kovack before grabbing her 9mm and flying towards the Interrogation rooms. Kovack was right behind her and Bill was yelling in the distance.

"Get me Bauer…" was the last thing she heard before turning a corner.

Alex pounded hard against the concrete; her eyes peeled for anything – a blood spackling, a body trail…something to indicate the whereabouts of whoever had escaped. When they arrived at the Holding room, they found Morris on the floor of Mironova's interrogation room, unconscious and bleeding profusely. There were two dead Security Guards and Wiley was nowhere to be found. Kovack called for a medic as Alex took off again, her pulse racing.

When she reached the entrance to CTU she realized she was too late. External security had taken too long to get in place, or the lockdown wasn't ordered soon enough…but he was gone. She let out a groan of frustration before snatching up her phone and dialing the bullpen to inform Bill of the situation just as Jack had caught up with her. Alex felt the anger rising within her as she leaned back against the wall and breathing deeply. After months – no years – of trying to get this guy he had escaped in less than ten minutes. Sonofabitch.

It was Jack who poked her in the side a few seconds later, indicating to a small piece of hardware on the floor. She frowned and crouched down to study it beside him, the edges were charred slightly but the chip was intact as far as they could see. She reached to grab it but Jack held her back.

"Wait! It could be an explosive." He reminded her before fishing for his own cell phone and calling back upstairs.

* * *

"I can't exactly do this with you leaning over my shoulder." Chloe hissed sarcastically. The component had just been cleared of any sort of danger and was now being decoded by Comm.

Chloe'd never liked Alex, (not that Chloe really liked anyone, but particularly not Alex), and was irritated by the fact she was in the room with her. Her fuse was already short considering that her kind-of-sort-of-not-really boyfriend was being airlifted to Cedars.

"Well, find a way." Alex snapped. She certainly outranked any analyst – even if it was Chloe O'Brian. The chip wasn't leaving her sight until they pulled everything off of it.

"How long?" she asked after a few more minutes.

"As long as it takes, though this might go faster if you stopped asking stupid questions."

Towards the end of the proceedings Alex got a phone call. She stepped away from the table, her eyes still locked on Chloe as her fingers whipped furiously across the keyboard.

"Evans."

"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did ya?" Rick teased lightly. He sounded groggy.

The sound of his voice made her queasy. She swore softly, her hands shaking a little.

"You caught me…" she joked back. "I guess you're a little more resilient than I thought."

He laughed softly and she felt better.

"How you feeling?"

"Little tired. I just spent the last hour and getting a blood transfusion but I'm cleared to go back on the floor as soon as they've finished cleaning me up and checking me out…should be another hour or so. What's going on there?"

She briefly recapped the discovery of the chip and the decryption; he hissed loudly when she told him about Mironova and Kovack's fatal mistake.

"I hate that guy."

Alex grinned. "Ditto. Anything so he doesn't have to agree with me…"

Rick sighed. "Alright well uh…you'll hold down the fort for me until I get back?"

"I think I can manage." She joked wryly. "Just hurry before I kill Kovack with my bare hands."

"Yeah well if I don't get there in time make sure you at least videotape it for me…"

She laughed and he bit his lip. "Y'know you saved me out there…tying off the artery."

She grinned. "Yeah well, it's not like I didn't owe you one…"

"_One_?" he snickered.

"Shut up…You can keep the shirt by the way. Think of it as a souvenir."

"Lucky me…" she heard the smile in his voice. "I'll see ya in a bit."

* * *

"Alright, Chloe, what do we know?" Bill had called a private meeting when Chloe announced she was finished with the decryption. Only Jack, Kovack, himself and Alex were present.

"It's a video…less than a minute in length."

"Of what?" Jack asked.

Chloe looked at her hands and Alex felt queasy again. When she'd asked Chloe what the video revealed she'd received no sarcastic retort. Instead Chloe had hunched her shoulders and lowered her eyes, refusing to say anything until they had everyone in the room.

"Just…watch it or something."

The whole room became eerily silent when the video played. Bill and Jack were staring at the screen in utter disbelief and Alex fought the urge to crumple into a chair.

"When was this made?" Bill asked abruptly.

Chloe shook her head. "I can't tell."

The speaker of the room came on before anyone had reacted past that.

"Mr. Buchanan, there's a phone call. They want to talk to Ms. Evans."

"Who is it?"

"They won't say but they insisted you'd want to talk to them…the phone is encrypted."

"Transfer the call…"

The phone clicked as the new call came through and Alex spoke clearly.

"This is Evans." She swallowed hard.

"Agent Evans this is Ned Svenski…" the voice echoed harshly. "I believe you've heard of me."

Her blood ran cold. Svenski and Mironova had worked hand in hand on many operations. Intel suggested Svenski had been the point-man on the entire thing, but he was untouchable. They'd come close to grabbing him once when she and Rick had been in Russia and he'd decimated their entire camp. They'd been the only two that escaped and had done so by the skin of their teeth.

"What the hell is this?" she snapped.

The whole room heard the smug smile in his voice when he spoke again.

"I have something your office may be interested in."

"And that would be what?" she stared at Bill who exchanged a quick look with Jack and asked Chloe if she had a trace. Chloe nodded briefly and started typing furiously.

"Michelle Dessler."


	4. House of Wolves

Disenchanted

_**A/N: **__Chapter Threeeeee. It's a long one and I had a really tough time writing it…haha. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter(s)…I hope this one does not disappoint! Enjoy!_

Chapter Three – House of Wolves

_I think I'm gonna burn in hell,_

_Everybody burn the house right down._

_And say, ha_

_What I wanna say_

_Tell me I'm an angel,_

_Take this to my grave._

_Tell me I'm a bad man,_

_Kick me like a stray._

_Tell me I'm an angel,_

_Take this to my grave._

_**- House of Wolves by My Chemical Romance**_

Everyone descended into their own world, not sure what to do. Jack's eyes remained fixated painfully on the screen; Chloe was gnawing on her lip almost to the point of drawing blood; Kovack was leaning against the wall with a blank expression and his arms folded across his chest; Bill rubbed his temples, his eyes lowered to the ground and Alex had leaned over the table, frozen.

Jack was the first person to speak.

"Where did you get this?" his voice was raspy and it seemed as though he was the first person to accept the fact that what he was seeing could very much be real.

"This is footage from our location less than fifteen minutes from your office."

"And you expect us to believe that Michelle Dessler is alive simply because you've got footage taken in a darkened room of a look-a-like?"

Svenski laughed hollowly.

"You can believe what you want…Dessler's alive and if you want her, come and get her. We're done."

"And you're just going to hand her over – just like that?" Kovack finally spoke.

"Just like that." Svenski said. "Unlike your office, we're not murderers. She's served her purpose – if you come within the hour no further harm will be done."

The room exchanged looks and Alex felt the bile rise in the back of her throat at his words. _No further harm…_

"Are you still there, Agent Evans?"

Alex snapped her neck back.

"What's this got to do with me?"

Svenski smirked on his end of the phone.

"Surely it occurred to you that you're the reason we went after her in the first place."

Alex went white and all eyes turned to her.

"What?"

"A few years ago you worked at Division Headquarters, didn't you?"

No one said anything.

"You stumbled on a file regarding our involvement with Yugoslavian extremists when you were putting together a report for Division."

Bill turned to her in shock.

"I never signed off on that. You didn't have clearance."

"Evans gave Dessler the report – which implicated us…though neither knew that at the time. Dessler started digging and before she had finished she resigned and left DOD. The report was overlooked and the only people who had seen it and understood its value were the pair of them. Nothing incriminating, nothing concrete unless the right person happened to get their hands on it with the right background material…"

"So you what…" Alex felt her chest swell in anger. "You faked her death so you could interrogate her and see what we knew?"

"Partly…but also to exploit your weaknesses. At that point you had just returned to the US from a foreign intelligence operation that resulted in the death of several of our associates. You'd been severely underestimated in the past it seemed. We wanted to know how close you were to making the connection as well as how to get to you. She was the logical choice. I must commend you, Evans. I've never had a harder time finding someone's weakness than I did yours…all things considered…"

Alex didn't feel flattered. As far as she was concerned her weaknesses were glaringly obvious to anyone who knew anything about her. And now Michelle was paying for it…

"If Michelle was the one who compiled the report, what does Alex have to do with this?"

"Evans knew about the report, had access to the report, it was only a matter of time before she used it against us. Dessler was responsible for the intelligence, but Evans is the real threat…we saw what she did in St. Petersburg."

"And you're going to give Michelle up for nothing?"

"Would you rather we just killed her right now?"

Silence.

"You have one hour to make your decision or Dessler dies…the only thing that has to happen is Evans has to show up herself to retrieve her."

The phone clicked and no one said a word.

"If they're just going to let Michelle go, why do we have to make a decision? Isn't it obvious?" Chloe asked awkwardly.

"You heard him." Alex stated quietly. "They're trying to get to me before I can get to them."

Jack stared at her, the realization forming slightly on his brow.

"The attack on Tony was a setup. It put Tony back at CTU and put someone in place to drop off the chip."

Alex nodded. "And Mironova was careless. We knew for days he was planning on going out tonight and he backed himself into a corner…Mironova doesn't make mistakes like that. Catching him distracted us from digging deeper into what happened with Michelle and the ambush on Tony…" she winced. "It put Rick out of commission. Tony wasn't the target. Rick was…" a scowl formed on her face. There, right there, another weakness. It didn't seem like they were having such difficulty with that anymore. If they wanted her to go alone then it only made sense to take out the one person who would under no circumstances let her go without him. Not against Svenski.

Bill wiped his hand over his mouth.

"We don't even know if Michelle's really alive."

"I know. We can't risk it – it's suicide for whoever we send…"

Alex's eyes flashed and she stopped pacing.

"We can't _risk_ it? So we're gonna let them murder her?"

"It's likely that…she's already dead…" Kovack said solemnly.

"And if you're wrong? And if she's alive and we can save her?"

"We're flying blind, Alex." Bill rationalized. "We need more information before we make a move."

"There's no time!"

"Our best bet is to make contact with Svenski again…if we can cut a deal and buy some time we can confirm she's alive before we send anyone in." He continued and Jack nodded in agreement. "I can't authorize the use of our people unless we have confirmation."

"And once that happens I can extract her."

"She'll be dead by then!" the anger bubbled within her. "You don't know these guys like I do. They aren't interested in cutting a deal. This is a game to them…they want to make us squirm. We can't think…we just have to do it."

"Alex…"

"I can do this!" she exclaimed, the emotion rising in her voice. "Let me do this…"

"Their objective is to kill you!"

"And if they don't kill me they'll kill Michelle! We have to do something…we have to at least…"

"There's something bigger going on here. There's a reason they want you over Michelle and it would make no sense to willingly sacrifice that advantage. They won't kill Michelle if she's their only bargaining chip and…" he hesitated. "And if Michelle really is alive she wouldn't want us to sacrifice that advanta - " Jack began.

"_She's in this because of me_!" Alex shouted angrily, placing a delicate emphasis on each word. Her cheeks were pink and her voice wavered.

"We have to try and do something!"

Her words echoed around the room and she was visibly shaking.

"We can't Alex, not this way." Bill stated quietly.

Eventually Jack spoke.

"We have to tell Tony."

"No." Alex protested; it was the first time she had spoken in five minutes. "There's no way."

"He has a right to know."

"What the hell do you plan on telling him? He already thinks she's dead…what's the point of telling him she might be alive but we're not going to do anything about it? It'll kill him."

"I'd want to know."

"You weren't there when it happened – you didn't see what it did to him and you have no right to do that to him again!" She blasted.

"He'll hear about it eventually anyway." Bill stated as he pressed the intercom before informing Nadia to bring in Tony as soon as he returned from Medical. "I'd rather he hear it from us."

Alex shook her head in disbelief.

"Then I can't be here when you tell him." She choked out.

"I don't remember anyone asking you to be." Ethan reminded her, sending Alex storming towards the exited.

"Go to hell." She hissed back at them just before the door closed behind her.

* * *

Alex flew into the corridor leading to medical and practically knocked Tony over. He grabbed both arms and pulled her in front of him.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noting her blurry eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Nothing…" she brushed him away and managed a reassuring smile. "Kovack just gets to me…"

He raised an eyebrow.

"What'd he do?"

She shook her head in disgust. "He didn't assign me to anything. I'm just pissed off, don't worry."

Tony studied her carefully for a few seconds before releasing her.

"Okay…"

She ran her fingers through her hair anxiously before meeting his eyes.

"Listen uh…they want you in the Conference room…something came up."

"About Michelle?" he winced. Alex nodded.

"I'm sorry…" she bit her lip. "Whatever happens…whatever they tell you…just know I'm sorry…"

"Al…"

"I can't…" she blurted out, pushing away. "Talk to Jack – he'll tell you everything…they're waiting for you to come upstairs anyway so you might as well go…"

He frowned. He'd never seen her like this before.

"Just know I'm sorry and it shouldn't be like this." She repeated heavily, her eyes welling with tears; pushing him towards the glass doors and up to the bullpen before he could get another word out.

It wasn't right. Every inch of her body was telling her Michelle was alive – the report – Svenski would've _never _let that stone go unturned if he thought they were close to getting something on him. And Michelle wouldn't have broken. Alex knew that. Michelle would die before she told them anything so the fact that they were offering up a trade…they wanted Alex more. Everyone else may have believed she was dead or that they'd hold onto her to cut another deal, but Alex knew better. And there was no way in hell she was leaving Michelle to die…Not when she was in a position to do something.

Three minutes later she entered the locker room and tossed a bag beside her locker that contained a few small weapons, flak jacket, and rounds of ammo. Alex ripped off her bloody shirt and pulled a black fitted singlet from her locker before proceeding to the mirror. Her heart was pounding and her cheeks were flushed. She tied back her hair and splashed cold water on her face, urging herself to calm down.

She leaned over the sink, rocking back and forth slightly for a few seconds and then returned to the bag. She quickly pulled out a 9mm, loaded a clip and slid it into the back of her jeans. The anxiety overcame her again and she froze for an instant.

_You have to do something_. Her conscience insisted and she grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder as she pushed out of the locker room without a second thought.

She was doing something.

* * *

"What's goin' on?" Tony's eyes narrowed as he entered the Conference room. Bill's face was blank as he looked up from the ground and Jack had an odd expression on his face – something only Tony would know as grief stricken and apologetic. Tony's lip curled as he spoke again.

"What happened?" he snapped.

Jack glanced at Bill before taking a step forward.

"We've had some news on your attackers…"

Tony's jaw tightened. "About Michelle?"

Jack nodded solemnly and Bill indicated to a chair.

"Have a seat, Tony."

"I'm good, thanks." He folded his arms across his chest. "Somebody start talking…"

Jack sighed and took a cautious step towards his friend.

"A few minutes ago we received a call from someone named Svenski…sound familiar?"

Tony shook his head immediately.

"Alex knew of him." Bill explained. "He apparently dealt with them in Russia. He wanted to speak to her."

Jack stepped a little closer until he was face to face with Tony. His scowl had transformed into a confused frown.

"Svenski claimed that Michelle's death had nothing to do with what happened to Palmer and Henderson. He said that when Alex worked at Division she and Michelle dug up a bunch of information incriminating him and that they…" Jack gulped. "That they kidnapped Michelle to interrogate her."

Tony's eyes widened and he stared back at Jack.

"So what the hell does that mean?"

No one said anything until Bill finally let out a deep sigh and answered the question.

"Svenski's claiming Michelle's still alive and that we have one hour to extract her from the location or…" Bill swallowed hard. "Or they'll execute her over CTU's internal feed."

From his position Jack could practically see the blood pounding inside Tony's veins. His fists clenched and he stared between the three other men in the room. Kovack had yet to say a word, obviously knowing now was the time to keep his mouth shut.

"So what the hell are we still doing here?" He snarled at Jack.

"Tony, calm down!"

"Answer the question!"

"We have no proof Michelle's alive and until we get some - "

"We're just gonna let her die!"

No one said anything and Tony made a dash for the door.

"If you guys aren't doing anything than I will…"

Jack got there faster, his arms on Tony's shoulders blocking his exit.

"Let me go, Jack!" Tony threatened.

"It's suicide."

"I don't care!" Tony shoved him hard but Jack retained his hold.

"Tony, listen to me…" Jack shoved back a little before releasing him as he started to speak. "You know this doesn't change anything…Michelle's still dead and you're still not and they're just trying to get to us. _Christopher Henderson_ was responsible for Michelle's death and Palmer's death and everything else that happened that day. It was the bomb in the car that killed Michelle…if they wanted her alive why would they try and kill you both?"

"Maybe I wish they had…" Tony snarled; the anger replaced with something else now. He gulped hard, fighting back the stinging in the corner of his eyes.

"What if you're wrong?" he challenged.

"If Michelle's alive they want something else more than her and they'll call back to make another deal…you know that as well as I do. If she's worth giving up for something bigger…and then they'll give us proof and we can extract Michelle…I promise." Jack felt Bill's eyes bearing into the back of his skull as he spoke. They both knew the question that was coming as the wheels began to turn in Tony's head.

"So once we confirm Michelle's alive we're just gonna give them whatever they want?" he asked quietly, the defiance still in his voice. He didn't believe it would be that simple.

Jack tensed and he heard Bill moving towards them.

"Not exactly…" Jack explained. "We'd have to extract Michelle by force to avoid giving up…"

"She could get killed. We don't know what kind of a condition she'll be in after months of interrogation!"

Jack could practically hear Bill's teeth grinding behind them. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"They want Alex, Tony."

* * *

A few back corridors had her outside of CTU before anyone could notice she was missing. The security guard at the gate willingly handed over an SUV to her without even a raised eyebrow.

As Alex pulled onto the main road she felt herself start to panic again. Maybe they were right…maybe this was suicide…maybe Michelle was already dead but…

Her palms slipped down the steering wheel and she tightened her grip.

It was her fault Michelle was even involved in this at all…if there was even the slightest chance she had to try. And if she went down for it as well…at least she'd go down swinging.

She probably should've been more nervous but she couldn't afford that right now. Right now the only thing she was thinking about was Michelle and how she was supposed to get in and get out before they'd realized she'd arrived. Svenski obviously wanted her – it was more an exchange than them giving Michelle up – and if she wanted to get out of this thing in one piece she was going to have to pull Michelle out before they even knew she was there. If she got cornered she'd just hope that they hadn't been bluffing and that if she turned herself in they would let Michelle go and do whatever they wanted to with her.

A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that wouldn't be the case. She had to get Michelle out before she got caught. That was the only option.

* * *

"Where'd Alex go?" Rick pushed into the Conference and blasted at Kovack, but stopped dead in his tracks when he tension in the room hit him like a ton of bricks. Jack was standing by Tony solemnly, a hand clasped on his shoulder as Tony stared blankly ahead of him. Kovack was leaning against the far wall and Bill was clawing at his brow.

Kovack raised his head at the question.

"No idea. She ran out of here because she got overruled."

Rick tensed uncertainly and looked at Bill, fearing the response.

"What happened?" He'd just been discharged from Medical a few minutes before and was entirely out of the loop. He hadn't spoken to anyone in hours and the first thing he had done upon his release was seek out Alex…only to be informed by Nadia she had just left a meeting in the Conference room. Security said she'd signed out.

Bill sighed wearily as explained the situation to Rick, whose eyes widened in disbelief. Tony's shoulders hunched and he lowered his head as the words were repeated a third time.

Suddenly, the whole situation became clear and he swore under his breath. Everyone looked at him.

"Alex…" he croaked.

"What?"

"I can't find Alex. She's not on the premises. I thought you had her following a lead or something..."

That got the room's attention.

"Sonofabitch."

Bill pressed the speakerphone.

"Chloe, get me Alex on the phone right now."

"I'm not a receptionist."

"Just do it!"

The phone rang a few times but she ignored it. CTU was calling her. She knew they'd figured it out and wasn't planning on having to explain herself any further. If they didn't want to do something she would.

Bill turned to the room anxiously. Rick had gone white.

"She's not picking up." He stated pointlessly. Rick felt a lump rise in his throat and fumbled for his cell phone. He dialed her number frantically his whole body tense as it rang.

Alex felt her stomach constrict when she saw who was calling her this time: _Rick Cell. _He was out of Medical. He was calling her. She considered answering it. She really did. She considered that maybe he'd heard what was happening and wanted to come after her. She considered he was calling to say he'd convinced CTU to back her up on this one and she'd have whatever she needed…All she really wanted was for him to be calling to tell her she could do this; that _he_ _knew _without any shred of doubt that she could get them both out alive and she hadn't temporarily lost her sanity. Finally, Alex turned off the phone completely. She could hope all she wanted, but they knew if she was going to talk to anyone – if anyone could convince her of anything – it was Rick and they'd be idiots not to play that card. It was too late anyway. She had arrived.

Her chest tightened as she proceeded cautiously towards the building, weapon poised. Her leg muscles were taut as she stealthily crept around a corner, spotting a lookout and eliminating him with one quick bullet to the temple. She took a deep breath.

_Here we go._

* * *

Tony was slumped in a chair, his head resting in his hands, as Rick paced around anxiously and Bill remained motionless in front of the intercom.

"I can't believe this." Rick shouted at the room. "I can't believe she's doing this."

The phone rang.

"Buchanan." Bill pressed on the speaker.

"Your time is up Mr. Buchanan." The voice echoed throughout the room as Rick came to stand beside his brother for reassurance.

"Are you coming to claim Dessler or would you rather just watch her get executed?"

"As I said before…" Bill responded calmly, a distinct iciness to his voice. "Until we have proof you're not getting anything."

The voice 'tsked' them softly a few times.

"I expected more of an effort from you." He left the phone on as he reached for the walkie talkie. "Proceed with the plan. Make sure the video cameras are working and transmitting through CTU's video feed."

A new voice came up. "Yessir."

Tony leapt from his chair and Rick gripped onto his shoulders while the blank monitor turned to snow and they all waited…

* * *

Alex had found the room. Two guards were stationed outside the door, with undoubtedly more inside. That was, if Michelle was really in there…

One man reached for his walkie talkie and spoke into briefly – a mumbled 'Yessir."

Alex pocketed her weapon and reached for the small dagger she'd acquired from her first victim. She slunk through the shadows towards the two guards, who were conversing with someone in the room. The door closed and Alex slit the throat of one and turned to the other just as his body slumped to the floor. The second man attempted to retaliate, but she jabbed the knife into the juncture between his neck and shoulder and covered his mouth with her free hand.

As Alex wiped the warm blood on the legs of her jeans she felt a surge of adrenaline, preparing herself for what she might see behind the next door and praying she wasn't too late. She cocked her gun and took a deep breath before kicking the door open and firing two shots…

* * *

"What's wrong with the video?" Svenski snapped at his associate, the snow was still covering the screen and CTU was waiting in agony.

"I don't know sir." The man apologized.

"Well fix it. This isn't worth a dime if we don't get a response."

"What's going on?" Bill snapped. Rick still had his hand on Tony's shoulder, who had sunk back into his chair, his stomach churning violently. For the first time in his entire adult life Tony had frozen completely.

No answer.

"What the hell are you people doing over there?" Bill roared.

Svenski could be heard yelling into the walkie talkie and Bill and Rick exchanged a look. Tony lifted his head slightly and stared at the screen, not sure what to do.

* * *

"Oh my god…" Alex gasped, fighting to retain her hold on the weapon as her eyes locked on Michelle, gagged, but very much alive. She was pale as anything and her hands were bound. Her eyes were wide at what had just happened.

It took only a second for her heart to stop racing and she sprinted across the room, shoving one of the bodies out of the way as she fell to her knees and placed her gun to the side. She quickly removed the gag and directed Michelle's face towards her. Her eyes were bleary and she looked exhausted.

"Michelle…" she tried to retain her focus. "Michelle can you hear me?"

It was a few seconds before she nodded slowly.

"Do you know who this is?"

Again, Michelle nodded, her eyes welling with tears in disbelief.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" she croaked heavily.

"Svenski called CTU and said you were alive…so I came." She said simply as she fought back the quaver in her voice. She jumped up and helped Michelle to her feet carefully before removing the ties on her arms. Michelle wobbled unsteadily, but Alex held her elbow tightly. She quickly removed her coat and her flak jacket and helped Michelle on with both…worried she was so fragile the weight would be too much.

"What about you?" Michelle asked, her voice rife with concern. She stared in slight disbelief at the girl who stood before her. Over the last few years she'd watched Alex change and now her arm muscles flexed with even the slightest movement. Her face was hard and her jaw clenched but her eyes were locked on Michelle with a hint of desperation.

"We need to go." Alex told her firmly, ignoring the question. "Are you gonna be alright?"

Michelle nodded and Alex started pulling ammunition off her victims, as well as a second weapon. She handed it to Michelle without another word before latching onto her arm again and leading her towards the door. The walkie talkie lay on the floor, Svenski's voice emitting from it with obvious anger.

When they prepared to turn a corner they heard the sounds of footsteps sprinting in the direction they'd just came from. Alex pushed Michelle into the wall, her arm holding her in position as she peaked around the corner. Two guards came rushing and Alex fired shots, mortally wounding one and killing the other instantly.

"What was that?" someone's voice echoed and Alex moved from her position, snatched up the walkie talkie and held it to the dying man's mouth.

"Give them the all clear and I'll make it quick." She told him monotonously. The man choked and sputtered blood and she lifted his head slightly. He seemed to be considering it and then nodded reluctantly.

"It's Derek…" his voice echoed weakly. He looked at Alex before blurting out "Dessler's escaped – someone's in here!"

Alex swore vehemently and kicked him hard in the ribs, watching him curl up in a ball and wail in agony. Michelle was still struggling to remain upright and Alex grabbed her arm, pulling her in the opposite direction and moving as fast as Michelle could allow.

Alex fumbled for the walkie talkie that Svenski's enraged voice was still echoing out of, her eyes scanning the room as she watched Michelle struggle to catch her breath. She only had one play to make right now.

"So what was the real plan, Svenski? I guess I'm a little harder to kill than you thought…" she snarled into the walkie. Back at CTU the Conference room was tapped into the feed and relief flooded Bill's body when he heard her voice. He glanced across the table at Tony who had tensed and had his eyes fixated on the speaker now.

"You killed my men, Evans."

"Yeah well…I'll let you know when we're even."

"And how exactly do you plan on escaping when we've got every exit to this building covered?"

Alex laughed harshly. "I'll manage."

"Maybe I don't believe you have Dessler."

Alex glanced at Michelle, considering her options. She saw no reason admitting she had Michelle would be a problem. Svenski already knew the room was empty and chances were the comm. feed was transmitting to CTU which would mean that…

Alex held the device in front of Michelle's mouth, pausing their advance briefly.

"Say something…" she instructed, sensing Michelle's hesitation. "Tony can hear you."

Michelle's expression clouded over and she blinked hard a few times and nodded. Alex pressed the button on the side of the walkie talkie just as Michelle spoke.

"This is Dessler."

Alex moved the walkie talkie back to her own mouth.

"Happy?" she snarled.

"Neither of you will make it out of here alive." Svenski promised. Alex snorted.

"You're a lot of talk for someone who likes to hide behind his goons." She hissed, hurrying Michelle along the corridor, her eyes skimming quickly for any indication that they were being ambushed. So far so good…

"If you wanna do this then let's fucking do this…I'm not playing your games anymore."

"Do you really think you're in a position to be threatening me, Agent Evans?"

"Dessler's alive and ten of your guards that were supposed to kill us both are dead…I'd say so."

"You won't get away with this."

"Yeah well…anytime you want to try and stop me..."

After that she smashed the walkie talkie into the nearest wall and grabbed Michelle's arm again, running them both full speed along the empty corridor.

* * *

_"This is Dessler._"

Every eye in the room landed on Tony first. His face was contorted into something painful – obviously not sure whether to be relieved or to be more worried than ever. Alex's less-than-subtle arrogance did very little to assuage his anxiety over whether or not they would both make it out alive.

Rick had it worse. He knew the arrogance was her manifestation of panic. It was her way of showing everyone else she was in complete control of the situation and hoping that if they believed it she would have no choice but to. She would never admit that to anyone but him though…

"Bill, if Michelle's in there we have to give Alex some help... I'm going - "

"You're not cleared for field work."

Rick scowled and Bill turned to Jack who nodded immediately and was gone a second later. Rick was already on the phone to field ops pulling a team together for backup. He only hoped they could get there in time.

* * *

Alex took a few deep, cleansing breaths before turning to Michelle. She could do this. She could finish this.

"The teams will be here soon. How you doing?"

Michelle gulped hard.

"I'm alright," she managed, though it was quite obvious she was barely holding herself upright. She faltered slightly and Alex tightened her grip.

"I can't even imagine what you went through in there…" Alex began, her expression determined. "But in a few minutes this will all be over and I just need you to hang in there for me so we can get out of here…"

Michelle nodded wordlessly, her face contorted in pain and her eyes directed at the ceiling as tears pooled in them.

Alex felt Michelle's close proximity as she guided them silently through the hallway, hoping her sense of direction hadn't been warped by all the twists and turns. More than once she'd held out a hand to stop their progress, suspicious of a sound she'd heard. It was only a matter of time until they were found. It was ten minutes before they reached a stairwell on – from what Alex could estimate – the north side of the building. There was only a small window and a trickle of moonlight found its way inside giving them just enough light to see the steps in front of them. Alex kept Michelle within an arm's length, prepared to push her either in front of or behind her depending where the attack came from. She had to figure they were close. The building wasn't that big and Svenski had to have a small army of men at his disposal. They would cover the warehouse quickly.

They reached the ground floor when they finally were discovered. Firefight broke out from above. Alex pushed Michelle down the last few stairs and ducked behind the railing to avoid the barrage of bullets that ricocheted off the walls around them. After returning a few rounds herself Alex shoved Michelle through the open door before following her.

They weren't alone in the empty hallway either. Alex grabbed Michelle by the arm and they made a mad dash for an empty room on the other side. Ducking beneath the cover of the door Alex counted what ammo they had left. There were at least thirty men standing between them and the exit and she didn't know she had more than thirty bullets left. It was about 100 yards to the front door and if CTU really had been plugged into the feed Rick would've sent a Tac team as soon as he had cause to. They had to be getting close.

Her best bet was to get Michelle out and worry about herself later. They had to make a move fast and there wasn't time for anything fancier than that. She could distract them long enough to put a hole in their defense and give Michelle a chance to escape. Michelle knew how to shoot a gun. She could lay down enough cover fire to get herself outside as long as she kept her head down…

The sound of bullets firing outside suddenly increased rapidly and a light came on in the darkened hallway. Alex poked her head out long enough to see what was going on as she watched several men drop like flies. A hoarse voice called over the commotion:

"Michelle!"

Michelle, who hadn't said anything for a few seconds, widened her eyes.

"Jack!" She exclaimed as she readjusted her hold on her own weapon. "We're here!"

From across the hall Jack Bauer was gaining the attention of at least half the hostiles. He was using the door to the stairwell for cover. He must've taken care of most of those guys.

Seizing the opportunity Alex glanced at Michelle.

"Cover me!" she ordered, adding her own fire to the mix and taking out a few hostiles in the process. The path to the exit was clear. Michelle could make a run for it and she and Jack –

"Damnit!" Michelle screamed in frustration next to her. It was the closest she'd come to sounding like Michelle since Alex had found her.

"I'm out!"

Shit.

Alex knew she only had a few rounds left herself now. She heard a heavy curse come from the hallway as Jack stumbled into the doorway with her.

"Are you guys okay?" he breathed heavily.

"I'm out of ammo." Michelle declared, feeling sick now. Jack's face went white.

"Me too."

Now Alex felt sick. She poked her head outside long enough to know that most of them had retreated past the exit to give themselves more cover. She'd just have to get close enough to distract them before they picked her off and then Jack and Michelle could run.

"Get ready to move." She ordered hoarsely. Michelle's eyes filled with worry.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm still figuring that out…"

"Alex, you can't hold them off by yourself!"

Alex ignored her and turned to Jack. He was paying attention. That much was obvious.

"When I tell you to run take Michelle and run!" she was already getting ready to bolt through the door.

He glanced at the gun in her hands and then outside. There were still seven men left from what he could count.

"I can do it…" he told her, knowing what she was thinking. She shook her head immediately.

"You guys will have to be fast and if Michelle can't run I can't carry her and make it out in time."

"Alex you can't - !"

"I'll be fine." The girl assured her easily. "Get ready to move."

They didn't have time to argue as Alex had already flung herself into the open and started firing a few carefully placed rounds. She felt Jack and Michelle moving behind her and she ran towards the group of hostiles firing one last shot before catching a glimpse of them in her periphery and tossing her gun into Jack's waiting hands.

"Go!" she screamed as her fist collided with one man's nose and her left foot made contact with another before he could get a shot off. The bullets started again and she used her first victim's disoriented body as a shield and flipped another onto his back as a loud _crack _emanated around the room. A bullet skimmed her left shoulder and she groaned in pain. There was one guy left standing close enough to her to get in her way before she had time to grab a weapon. She grunted as her foot collided with his wrist, knocking the pistol from his hand and sending it careening across the floor. His fists clenched, obviously prepared to fight her without a weapon and Alex dropped her left foot back and sprung into the air, the momentum of her spin giving her enough force to drive the guy backwards when her foot made contact with his jaw. He stumbled to the ground and Alex grappled for his weapon. She had them all on the ground in exactly four shots, each making a clean line for the center of their skull. Panting heavily and dripping with sweat she made a mad dash for the exit without so much as a glance behind her.

* * *

"Bill it's Jack!" Jack and Michelle had just emerged into the early morning air. Upon release Michelle had dropped to the ground, her body finally betraying her as she dry-heaved onto the pavement and sweat poured down her face. Jack fell down beside her, his arm around her waist and his hand holding back her hair. She curled into a ball on her side just as Jack reached for his phone that started jingling in his pocket.

"Jack, what happened!?"

"Michelle's with me now."

"Where's Alex?"

"Jack, you have to go back for her." Michelle managed weakly.

"Where's Alex?" The voice wasn't Bill's this time, but Rick's.

"I'm going back in now…we were cornered and out of ammo and she told us to run…"

"What the hell are you waiting for!? Go pull her out of there - !"

Alex stumbled through the doors a second later, much to Jack's relief. He'd felt wrong about leaving her to fend for herself – without a weapon, nonetheless – but had known she was right. Had Michelle collapsed on the way out Alex wouldn't have been able to run fast enough under the weight to pull them both out in time.

"Alex is fine. She just ran out. We're sending the Tac teams in now…"

"Al!" Wiley's arms were around her as she stumbled across the ground. She steadied herself and wiped a hand across her brow that was dripping with sweat.

"You okay?"

She nodded, gasping for air.

"Go…I can't lead the team right now…"

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yes! Go!"

Wiley disappeared just as Jack approached her. The medic had finally run up to Michelle and she had rolled onto her back as he examined her carefully.

Alex's eyes fell gratefully on the bottle of water in Jack's hand. She guzzled the entire thing before finally acknowledging him.

"You okay?"

He nodded, his eyes landing on her arm.

"What happened?"

"Stray bullet." She panted. "I had to take down the first four without a gun and I guess I wasn't fast enough…"

His brow creased in what she would eventually come to recognize as surprise. Her whole body ached now that the adrenaline was wearing off and the reality that they'd pulled this off overwhelmed her. Michelle was alive, being treated by a medic, and no matter what happened with Svenski and Mironova she could be happy about that at least.

"I just talked to Bill…I'm sending Michelle back to CTU on the chopper. I think you should go as well…Your wound is superficial but you'll need a few stitches" He informed her.

She sighed and nodded.

"Once we've stabilized the location Forensics will get in there and pull anything they can out of it."

She nodded again, with a slightly creased brow.

"Wiley should have everything under control…talk to him if you need anything…"

Jack studied her for a moment before squeezing her shoulder briefly.

"You did great."


	5. Dance Inside

Disenchanted

_**A/N: **__Alright, chapter four! I'm so unbelievably thrilled people are actually reading this…you have no idea. Thanks again so much to everyone who reviewed and I hope this chapter does not disappoint! _

Chapter Four - Dance Inside

_ I'm twisted up when I'm twisted with you. _

_Brush so lightly._

_And time trickles down and we're breathing for two. _

_Squeeze so tightly. _

_I'll be fine, you'll be fine, _

_This moment seems so long. _

_Don't waste now, precious time. _

_We'll dance inside the song. _

_**- Dance Inside by All-American Rejects**_

As they sat on the chopper, the medic continued to examine Michelle briefly. He took her blood pressure, checked her pulse and studied her pupils for a few seconds before finally letting her rest. Michelle's body quivered as the chopper moved through the skies and Alex reached out her uninjured arm to offer a squeeze of reassurance.

Michelle was shivering too. Her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was pasty white. Alex's armed moved around her shoulders and she started rubbing vigorously.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

Michelle swallowed, her mouth dry and the words coming out raspy.

"Yeah…I'll be fine."

"Tony's fine…"

"He just thought I was dead for six months." Michelle muttered as the medic handed her a small cup of water, instructing her to sip slowly.

"I'm so sorry Michelle." Alex croaked. "I'm sorry I got you into this."

"You didn't do anything wrong. What happened to me wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was…"

"No." she stated firmly. "It wasn't. I could've ignored the file when you brought it to me. I could've denied you to the Clearance in the first place. Neither of us knew this was going to happen…" she trailed off as the exhaustion overcame her and her lids fluttered closed, resting her head against Alex's arm. Alex said no more after that.

There was a small crowd to meet them when the chopper landed: Bill, Tony, Kovack, Rick and one of the doctors from Medical with a few nurses and a gurney. Apparently they didn't know what to expect.

Alex took a deep breath as the chopper set down, the medic jumping out first and offering a hand to Michelle, who stepped wearily onto the tarmac.

Tony brought a hand to his brow and gulped a mouthful of air before taking a few hurried steps forward and pulling her into an embrace, her body felt like dead weight against his warmth. Her arms locked tightly around his neck and she clung harder than she ever had before, too consumed by the feeling of him there with his body against hers to really pay attention to anything else.

"You okay?" He mumbled quietly in her ear, smoothing out her hair and planting a kiss on the side of her face. He struggled to keep the break out of his own voice. Michelle managed a nod before the tears finally came. She muffled a sob against his shoulder and he squeezed tighter, burying his face into her hair. His hands alternated between her face and neck and her back, as if trying to make sure she was really there and not his mind playing tricks on him.

As Alex moved out of the chopper she thought the guilt she now felt might force her to her knees. The consequences of her actions became all too apparent as she watched them cling to each other on the middle of the roof of CTU. What she'd done had cost a lot. She hopped to the ground onto slightly shaky legs and got her bearings. Alex averted Bill's gaze as he stared at her across the helipad. He looked as though he was about to move towards her but she reacted faster and bolted into the building. Right now she couldn't handle their lectures – right now she need to pull herself together.

"Evans!" Kovack hollered after her retreating back. She ignored him and he started to follow.

"Evans!"

"Fuck off, Kovack!" Alex called over her shoulder, pleased she managed to keep her voice from cracking. In the state she was in right now the only response she foresaw was dissolving into tears as soon as he confronted her.

She pushed through the doors and stepped inside, picking up her pace.

"Leave it…" Rick warned, making his way towards the entrance where Kovack had broken into a jog.

Kovack ignored him now.

"Ethan, leave it!" Rick called after him. Again Rick was ignored as he closed in on Alex who still had her eyes focused straight ahead.

"Evans get back here! You have to answer to someone!" he reached for her, grabbing her arm and shoving her against the wall. She winced when he dug into where the bullet had nicked her and shoved back hard, the pain in her injured arm overwhelming now.

"Who do you think you are, disobeying a direct order like that? " he snarled, his breath coating her face as he dug in a little harder and waited for her to react. His free hand grabbed her other shoulder her and slammed her against the cement. Alex glared at him, afraid to speak and betray how close to tears she was. She tried to push him away but he shoved her against the wall harder, her injury burning painfully.

"Hey!" Rick approached them both, eyes flashing. "Take your hands off her."

Kovack looked merely miffed. "She was under my authority when she left the premises. I have to address this insubordin - "

"Take…" Rick grabbed his arm, eyes narrowing, "…your hands off her."

"Would you be coddling her this much if she was one of your boys?" Kovack spat, still holding Alex against the wall.

"You sure as hell wouldn't be throwing her around…"

Kovack retained his hold and Rick tensed.

"Ethan, I swear to god you don't want to make me do this..." he ventured menacingly and Kovack flinched when he saw Rick's free hand dip behind his back. Kovack scowled and shoved Alex briefly a final time before releasing her and leaving without another word.

"You alright?" Rick stared at her bandaged shoulder after Kovack retreated in the other direction, the blood forming a small circular pattern. His hand wrapped lightly around the spot where Kovack's had been and his thumb brushed across the edge of the bandage.

She wiped her sweaty hair off her face.

"I'm fine. I'll go to Medical after I talk to Bill…" she started to push past him but he kept his hold on her arm, using his body to prevent anything further retreat.

He shook his head. "You coulda killed yourself."

She stared at him blankly.

"Damn it, Alex. Kovack was right you should've - "

"What did you expect me to do?!" she exclaimed. "You couldn't have expected me to just…."

"There's still a chain of command. You can't just take off because you don't like the orders you're given…"

"If I hadn't done what I did Michelle would be _dead_." She finished angrily. "You know Svenski as well as I do…"

He said nothing, so she continued.

"I did my job, Rick." She shrugged. "You know you would've found a way to do the same thing if you could've…"

He met her eyes and sighed.

"You should go see Bill."

* * *

In the few minutes it took for the doctor and nurses to finally leave the room and the visitor to enter, Michelle was already practically asleep. She felt like she hadn't rested properly in a hundred years.

She smiled groggily when she felt Tony's hand wrap around hers firmly and tilted her head towards him. He was so warm and she was still fighting to keep her teeth from chattering. All she wanted right now was for him to crawl under the blankets with her so she could engulf herself with his body heat.

"Hey…" she whispered softly through the obvious exhaustion.

His eyes watered slightly and he blinked hard, his thumb stroking her hand gently. Now that she was lying in the hospital bed with IVs sticking out of her it was almost as if he was afraid to touch her…like it would break her.

"Hey…how ya feeling?'

"Tired…" her eyes fluttered shut. "How are you?"

His free hand came to his brow and he wiped his eyes briefly. He cursed softly under his breath and Michelle smiled, moving her far hand to touch his face gently.

"Honey, it's okay…" she soothed, her own voice breaking and the corners of her eyes burning. Tony turned his mouth against her palm and kissed it gently before moving quickly to the inside of her arm, her elbow and standing slightly to reach her collarbone and finally her lips. He tilted his forehead against hers and sighed heavily.

"I love you…" he choked out.

She smiled and kissed him back lightly. "I love you too. "

"And I'm sorry about that day when I didn't…" he hung his head almost shamefully. "I didn't go with you."

"And if you had they would've killed you." She managed she touched his cheek tenderly. "And I'm _fine…_" she assured him softly.

He nodded heavily and kissed her face nowhere in particular. She sighed happily when he pressed his lips gently on the corner of her mouth.

" 'Kay…" he managed, still holding her hand as he sat back down in his seat. He had no intention of leaving her anytime soon. As far as he was concerned she didn't look fine.

* * *

There were few things that made Alex Evans feel guilty when she truly believed she had done the right thing. The look Rick Almeida kept giving her throughout the entire debriefing, at which both he and her uncle were present, was one of them. The blood she was coated in caused her jeans to stiffen, making it difficult to move, and her shirt was still soaking wet. She'd been offered a towel on the way into the room to wipe off her hands, but again, blood and dirt were still present beneath her fingernails. Apparently disobeying orders meant you didn't get to clean yourself off before debriefing.

"So, you found Michelle bound and gagged in the room….how'd you know where to go?" Rick probed. He looked practically defeated, like he didn't know what else to say to her and he was merely present because he had to be; like he'd give anything not to be in the same room as her in that moment. Bill didn't look much better, but he was angrier than anything else.

"There weren't many doors and I saw one of the guards that was directly outside the room was on this walkie talkie so I moved in."

"And you killed them?" Bill's voice echoed throughout the Conference room and Alex responded without hesitation.

"Yes." She met his eyes firmly. "I swiped a knife from someone on the way in. A gun would've made too much noise."

"And then you went inside?"

"There were two more guys inside. I took them out with my gun and helped Michelle…" her voice trailed off as activity erupted in the bullpen. "Look, there's a ton of stuff going on out there. Can't we do this later?"

As if on cue, Chloe ran into the room telling Bill they needed him on the floor. Bill sighed reluctantly and nodded, before excusing himself. Rick scooped up the papers and wordlessly started to leave the room.

"Rick…" Alex called after him. He turned around tiredly and waited for her to continue.

"I'm uh…" she ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up…"

He left without acknowledgement, but Alex was relentless. He wasn't getting away from her that easily.

"What the hell is your problem?" she snapped, spinning him around as the color rose in her cheeks.

His indifference finally shifted to rage as he met her eyes.

"If you were so convinced she was alive because of something you were involved with you should've told them everything instead of running off by yourself!"

"Yeah…so they could've shot me down again…" she spat sarcastically. "I'm not saying it was the smartest decision I've ever made in my life but I'd do it again…in a heartbeat."

"What you did was completely irresponsible…it reflects badly on me – I could lose my job!"

"You're not gonna lose your job. Bill knows it was all me." She almost laughed at that argument. He was grasping for straws.

He scratched the side of his face uncomfortably.

"Yeah." He shrugged, his tone flat. "It was all you."

Realization washed over Alex's face and she sighed a little.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the file or Svenski…but I'm not the only one here who kept something to themselves…"

"That was a covert operation that I couldn't tell you about! We were in Russia together!" he snapped angrily. "We tried to take out Svenski _together _and I had a right to know everything! This is why they called in Kovack. You can't run Field Ops and withhold information - !"

"They called in Kovack because Bill doesn't want to take me seriously! If I'd been running Field Ops they wouldn't have backed me into a corner and my opinion would've counted for something! They would've trusted me!"

"And what if something had happened?!"

"There's always something that could happen! I just - ?"

"And what if it does!? What if you got yourself killed trying to do everything by yourself?! Damn it, Alex! Jack said you threw him your gun and told him to run with Michelle…what the hell were you thinking!?"

"That if nothing else I'd at least know I did everything I could to save my friend...no matter what happened to me…"

"Sometimes you need to think about yourself too! You can't risk everything all the time and not expect it to catch up with you…"

"You're right! But I'm sorry...I don't care!"

"Well then, what the hell am I supposed to do without you?!"

They both froze as the words fell from his lips and an awkwardness followed. Neither knew what to say to that. Alex didn't have an answer because that was exactly the question running through her mind when he'd been shot early. What would she do if something happened to him?

"I gotta go check on some stuff." He declared quietly.

"Rick…"

"You should go get cleaned up. They might want you out there again soon…" he resented that, no question there. He wanted to be out there…she just wasn't sure she understood his reasons anymore.

* * *

In lieu of showering Alex strode down to Medical yet again. It'd been almost an hour since they'd returned and she wanted to see if Michelle was okay. Surprisingly, she found the room completely empty.

"Hey…" Alex's head tilted slightly and she offered a reassuring smile. "Where's Tony?"

"Talking to the doctors." She murmured softly. "I'm supposed to be resting."

Alex nodded understandingly and proceeded further into the room, situating herself on a chair beside the bed.

"How are you?" she asked gently.

Michelle shrugged. "Exhausted more than anything. Could be worse I guess…They gave me some painkillers but I haven't got around to taking them yet…" she'd been numb for too long to want something that would kill all feeling in her body. For as long as she could stand it she wanted to be able to feel something.

Alex focused on smoothing the creases out of the bed sheets to keep her emotions in check.

"I'm so sorry, Michelle." She stuttered and Michelle didn't protest this time, she just nodded solemnly and rubbed her arm.

"It's alright." She stated gently. "Everything worked out and you're the reason it did."

Alex laughed dryly. "You're the first person who's said that."

Michelle smiled. "They're giving you hell?"

"What else is new…" she muttered rhetorically.

After a few minutes of silence Michelle finally spoke again.

"Alex, thank you."

The girl sniffled a little and wiped her eyes.

"Are you kidding me? You're the reason I went to Langley is the first place…what good would I have been if I hadn't been able to use it help you…"

Michelle shook her head tiredly.

"You didn't owe me anything."

Alex laughed weakly. "I think…I owe you everything..."

As Alex made her way through the glass doors of Medical, promising Michelle time for some much needed rest, she caught Tony standing opposite her.

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and approached her.

"You're crazy…" he muttered under his breath and she smiled softly. He cupped her cheek firmly so she couldn't look away.

"You shouldn't have had to do that." He continued and Alex felt her stomach tighten a little. Bias or not, that was the point. They hadn't left her with much of a choice.

"It's done." She shrugged. "It worked out. Can we just not…" her voice trailed off and she looked to the floor. She didn't want to discuss it any further.

"I gotta go get cleaned up."

Tony nodded as she turned and walked away.

"Hey Al…" he called her back and fumbled to articulate what exactly he wanted to say to her. He settled on 'thanks', which made her beam widely before continuing upstairs.

* * *

"Karen Hayes."

"Hey, it's me." Bill sighed, grateful to hear his wife's voice. Karen smiled on her end of the phone.

"Hi…how's it going?"

"It's…hectic. I sent Kovack back to Division."

"You did?" truth be told, she didn't sound that surprised.

"Yeah…They needed the manpower and Rick's back on the floor and Jack's around and Alex…Alex knows what she's doing."

Karen bit her lip. "You didn't call to get my approval, Bill."

He laughed dryly. "No…I just wanted to talk to you. It's been hell over here."

"I know. How's Michelle doing?"

"Good. She seems fine. We're close to breaking the hostile Alex pulled out of the ambush on Tony. Rick's going to take over interrogation shortly and then we'll have a field team on standby."

"Did you talk to Hammond?"

"Yes…he wants me at Division. Apparently they're short on manpower. With any luck this thing will be over in a few hours."

There was a brief pause.

"And how are you doing?" she asked tenderly.

He chuckled quietly. "I think I'm getting too old for this."

She laughed too. "You and me both."

"Anyway, I'd better get back on the floor. I'll call you later…"

"Alright, honey. I'll talk to you soon."

* * *

"We can't lose Svenski." Jack declared firmly and Bill agreed vehemently. The implications of letting someone like him escape were all too clear now. Wiley had had a relatively easy time pulling information off of the lone hostile they'd pulled out of the attack on Tony and Jack. It hadn't taken much coercion to get him to identify the rendezvous point he'd overheard them discussing. He, apparently, wasn't supposed to know about it. Certain people were expendable.

"I want to make the takedown myself."

Bill also had a sinking suspicion that Jack was curious whether or not Svenski and Mironova had any sort of relation to the Russians Christopher Henderson had been dealing with…the ones who'd killed President Palmer.

"You'll have whatever you want, Jack."

Jack glanced at Tony sideways. Jack had pulled Tony away from Medical long enough to tell him that Bill was being sent to Division and things might get a little messy. They wanted him ready to go on the floor if need be.

"I want Alex. With Rick and Tony on the floor she's just being wasted here…"

Tony bit his lip slightly.

"Fine." Bill agreed reluctantly. "You can take Alex. Have her put together the backup team and get back to me with the final manifest. I'll be on my cell if you need."

Bill left the room without another word. He couldn't be angry, but he didn't have to like it either.

Alone now, Tony cocked his jaw awkwardly to one side and raised an eyebrow.

"Alex, huh?" he sounded surprised.

"Tony, everyone saw what she did today…and she knows the target better than everyone here... I'd be crazy not to use that to our advantage."

Tony said nothing. He didn't have to like it either.

* * *

"What happened?" Alex questioned as she returned to the floor. Rick was there too now and his eyes were fixated on one of the new analyst's computer screen. He rubbed the side of his cheek briefly as she joined him.

"What happened?" She repeated.

"Wiley got something off of the guy who dropped the chip." He explained in a low voice. There was no animosity left and minus the uncomfortable tension between them nothing seemed amiss. She wasn't too worried. They had the occasional spat here or there and things always resolve themselves in a day or two. The problem was there was no pretending what he'd said hadn't rattled her…

"A location?"

"A rendezvous point. Apparently after they…" he hesitated for a brief instant. "After they had you they were supposed to get picked up and flown out of the country in a cargo jet. Bill's on the phone with the airport now to try and get some more information so we can send a team."

"What time was the pickup?"

"Six-thirty."

Alex glanced at her watch. It was a quarter to six. There wouldn't be time to scout out the location and put together some alternate plans. If either Svenski or Mironova really were at this location they would have one shot to get this right.

"Both of them won't be there."

He nodded. "My money's on Svenski…he's the hit-and-run type. Mironova's more westernized, he can blend in for a little while and get out when the heat's off."

"Is Kovack gonna lead the team?"

He finally met her eyes. He looked tired, she noted. She probably did too. She felt tired. If they got anything more than five minutes of downtime she'd be in his office passed out on the couch for whatever kind of a powernap she could get.

The obligatory scowl he offered her was delayed.

"Bill sent Kovack back to Division."

Her puffy eyes widened slightly.

"Really?"

Rick nodded. "I'm not compromising your effectiveness by putting you out there with him. He can be an ass at Division but I'm not putting up with anymore crap from him…not today."

She smiled a little. "Thanks."

The corner of his mouth upturned slightly.

"So make sure you don't get yourself killed or anything…" his expression softened. " 'kay?"

She grinned.

"Are you gonna run tactical?"

"Yeah…Bill has to go to Division."

"How come?"

Rick shrugged. "Hammond wants him there. I guess he figures we have enough people here to handle CTU and Division's management is lacking."

They stood silently together for a moment before Rick turned to her.

"You'd better get in the Conference room and start coordinating with Jack for the takedown."

"Alright…" she hesitated, considering if she should say something more. He didn't seem angry now. Sure, he would act distant and aloof for the next few hours, but she also knew he'd be the person stopping her on the way out the door to remind her to come back in one piece.

She left and he breathed a heavy sigh before turning to Chloe who was pulling up the schematics of the airport.

"Are you putting those in the Conference room?"

"Yes."

"Make sure you send them to Alex's PDA as well as Jack's…"

"Obviously."

Rick frowned and poked her in the side. "What's wrong with you?"

"It's kind of hard to work when you and your little girlfriend keep making kissy faces at each other."

He rolled his eyes. "Cute…"

She rolled hers back. "Not like it matters to me or anything but you're like…the only person in the entire world who can't see it…"

"She's my friend, Chloe."

"Whatever. I don't care about your sordid love affairs. I just thought you should know what people are saying..."

"I know what people are saying."

"Fine. Whatever. It's not my business anyway."

Rick bit back any further retort. She was stressed out about Morris, which made Chloe bitchier than usual. He honestly couldn't care less what she thought about Alex as long as the schematics got where they needed to go.

Besides, she was right. It was none of her business anyway.

* * *

Michelle's head was pounding and the aches and pains were starting to become more noticeable. She winced every time she shifted slightly on the bed and the room started to spin. A low groan escaped her throat and she whimpered a little, squinting her eyes shut beneath the glare of the lights. She'd dozed off for a few minutes and felt disoriented now, unable to remember where exactly she was.

"Michelle…" she started when she heard a low voice beside her. It took a minute for her to register the voice was Tony's and not one of her captors.

She pulled her hand away abruptly when his fingertips grazed the back of it. He waited a few seconds and then tried again, gently pressing his fingers against the inside of her palm.

"Michelle, it's me." He said softly, his face close to hers now. Her eyes opened slightly and she managed a soft smile.

"You're back…"

He nodded, brushing her hair off her forehead. He'd never left really, except for going to the Conference room to see Jack and Bill to give her a few minutes to get into a change of clothes. The doctor had said she might be disoriented once the excitement from the escape wore off and to take things slow.

"How ya feelin'?"

She winced a little as she turned her body towards him. "Could be worse I guess…"

He sighed.

"Listen uh…Bill has to go to Division for a little while and Alex and Jack are going to try and bring in Svenski… Rick's on the floor, but he said he might need an extra set of hands to help coordinate…"

She looked about ready to pass out and while he didn't like the idea of leaving her alone for one second he also knew she probably wouldn't even notice he was gone once the painkillers kicked in.

"If he needs you go…" she told him easily. "I'll still be here."

He wished he could believe that. He really did.

"Well…I don't have to go anywhere yet."

Her expression brightened slightly and his hand moved to cup her cheek. She flinched and his brow creased.

"Is there uh…" he bit his lip. "…anything you wanna tell me?"

He felt her tense and she shook her head.

"No, honey."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

He didn't look convinced but he nodded.

" 'Kay."

* * *

"Alright guys, listen up…" Alex stated crisply as she stepped in front of the group of field agents standing in the empty airplane hanger. Jack was intrigued by the type of response she received from the lot of them. Everyone stopped talking and they turned to watch her. She was tiny by comparison and younger than most of them and yet she never once barked at them or tried to scare them into obeying her directives. She didn't need to.

"We don't have a lot of time and this place isn't big enough for anything fancy so we're gonna keep this as clean as possible…" she flipped open the hardcopy they'd been given of the floor plans and held them out for all to see.

"Wiley's leading alpha team which is backup for myself and Jack…Lewis, I want beta team to cover the perimeter. LAPD is gonna set up a mile radius in case Svenski manages to escape, but he's not escaping…right?"

Lewis, an exceptionally tall man with tanned skin and dark brown hair grinned and winked.

"Whatever you say, Al…"

She smiled a little as she continued.

"The goal is to get in and get out before anyone has time to react. Backup takes out the periphery…and I want a couple of snipers on the roof just in case he tries to make a break…"

"What are the orders?" Wiley's brow creased a little. Alex glanced a Jack briefly before speaking.

"Shoot to kill. The only way Svenski is leaving here is in transport or in a body bag."

"What if it's Mironova?" Wiley again.

Alex bit her lip. "Your approach stays the same. If all goes as planned Jack and I will be the only people dealing with either of them."

Alex took a deep breath.

"Questions?"

No response.

"Good. Everybody on delta-10 frequency for Comm. Rick's going to be coordinating from CTU. Let's move."

* * *

She still felt weird with Jack beside her. She knew it was something she would probably have to get used to at some point in her life – working this closely with someone other than Rick, or Wiley even – unless she planned on being the almost-head-of-Field-Ops for CTU Los Angeles for the rest of her life…But it still felt weird.

Jack was motionless beside her as she waited for Tony to give them the go-ahead. Rick was monitoring the alpha and beta teams and Tony was sticking with her and Jack. If things got messy or the status of Svenski changed they would swap out. Rick knew Svenski better.

"Alright guys, the infrareds Chloe pulled up show a group of people in hanger 15. Looks like they have a small plane in there too…"

"Rick?"

"Teams are in place. We're ready to go when you are."

She glanced at Jack who nodded quickly as the slipped through the airport grounds in the early morning light.

It was quiet, Alex noted as they reached the outside of hanger 15. The remained hidden in the shadows of the building directly next to it as they scouted the grounds for a lookout of some sort. It had been almost a minute of nothing and Alex turned to Jack.

"There's no way they're all on the plane. He's too smart for that."

Jack considered this carefully before speaking.

"You take the back entrance, I'll take the front…"

"You think it's an ambush?"

He clamped down slightly on the inside of his cheek.

"Something's not right."

A chill ran down Alex's spine at the weight of his words. Her eyes skimmed the area hurriedly looking for something indicating that they knew they were here.

"You ready?" Jack's voice interrupted her surveillance and she inclined her head slightly.

"Tony, it's Jack. We're moving in."

They moved in opposite directions, Alex halting a few feet from the back entrance. She stayed close to the side of the hanger. The windows were high, but she wouldn't be surprised if Svenski had found a way to put some sort of surveillance up there. Her hold tightened on her weapon as she moved closer to the door.

"Back up moves in on my signal." She whispered hurriedly into her microphone. "Jack, where are you?"

"I'm at the entrance. Ready to move when you are."

It happened quickly. Very quickly. Alex fired a well placed shot to the doorknob and kicked it in, her gun a few inches from her face. A few stray bullets flew in her direction but she ducked out of range easily before firing her own and taking a few of them with her. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness she caught site of the aircraft. The engines weren't on yet and it appeared to they still had finished loading the plane. From the far side of the hanger She heard more gunfire and knew Jack was obviously preoccupied. She found Svenski who was surrounded by a number of men with guns. Her eyes narrowed.

There were too many of them out in the open to dodge her shots and she took a few of them down without any problem.

"How ya doin' Jack?" She yelled into her feed over the firefight.

"I count five down, twenty-five overall, how about you?"

"Eight down and I've got Svenski in site. We were right, Mironova isn't with him. I'm moving in as soon as I get a clean line."

"Tony?"

"I copy that, when do you want backup?"

"Get them ready to move in three. Perimeter teams standby."

Alex dove behind a pile of wooden crates, narrowly missing the barrage of bullets that were now direct in her direction. She couldn't see Svenski anymore, but the sounds of shots being fired in the distance told her Jack was still busy as well. Her heart pounded in her chest as she reloaded her clip as quickly as possible. They had more people in place than she'd anticipated. What Svenski had in mind was the exact reason she'd argued with Bill before he left for Division about why they wouldn't go in with an entire Field team. His plan was obvious. Fifty guys shooting at each other was a fantastic diversion and he could slip out in the firefight. Now, if she and Jack could hold off the rest of his party until one of them could get to Svenski they could call in the backup without fear of losing him. They weren't losing him, not this time.

"Al, what's goin' on?" Tony's voice echoed in her hear. She slowed her breathing to speak.

"They've got me cornered. I can't see how many there are out there. What's Jack doing?"

"I count twelve down on my side. You're too close to Svenski for them to worry about me."

"How many on my side, Tony?"

She heard him yell something briefly over the speaker before he returned to her.

"Ten including Svenski. Tac team's moving in a minute thirty. You want them to stand down?"

"No! We won't last that long."

"Alex I can cover you, but you won't have long! If you want to distract them I can make a run for Svenski…"

"You're too far away. There's no time…"

"I'll hold them off as long as I can." Jack promised hoarsely.

"Okay…" she stumbled quickly to her feet and did a quick check that everything was in order. She kept her head low as the bullets flew above. They would start to converge on her soon.

"Alright…I'm going in."

She was convinced she'd never run this quickly in her entire life – at least, not in the last seven hours – the colors blurred in her periphery as she made a flying leap for Svenski. She half expected a shooting pain to erupt through her, or for everything to go black. Jack was doing his job though, because every time she came close to being done the hostile in front of her collapsed.

Her feet left the ground and she tackled Svenski to the floor, firing a bullet to his bodyguard's temple simultaneously. The shooting finally stopped and Alex scrambled to her feet, her gun aimed at the chest of Svenski.

"Get up." She snarled at him. For once he had nothing to say. She panted for breath as Jack came to join them, his own gun positioned on their target. Svenski didn't move, his hands up to protect his face.

"I said get up!" Alex snapped, taking a small amount of pleasure in watching a now-sweating Svenski move shakily to his feet. He held his hands up in the error, his eyes never leaving Alex. She glanced at Jack who moved in swiftly and scooped up the small pistol he'd been using.

"On your knees, hands behind your head."

Svenski obeyed this time.

"Tony, send in the backup." She heard Jack speak but the meaning of the words weren't resonating. She couldn't believe this was it. She couldn't believe after all of this they finally had Svenski in custody.

"Are you going to kill me, Evans?"

She didn't answer. He wasn't smiling this time but sneering practically. She was sure he would welcome death as soon as he saw what they were going to do to him at Guantanamo.

Alex gasped in relief when the backup team finally entered, Wiley at the front. She felt his eyes on her and knew he was searching her for any injuries. She turned around to give him a reassuring grin and his face relaxed. He grinned back and grabbed a man from either side, bringing them to where she stood. Lowering her weapon slightly, Alex watched as Svenski was dragged to his feet once the handcuffs were put on. His eyes never left her and hers only left him when he was halfway across the hanger being dragged to the transport vehicle. Truth be told, she would've rather he was dead.

With a heavy sigh, Alex lifted her microphone to her lips.

"Tony, it's Alex… We got him."


	6. Beat It

Disenchanted

**A/N: **_Yes, I know that choosing this song makes me a huge dork. It fits though, I swear! Haha. _

_Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed yet again. I hope you enjoy this next chapter! _

Chapter Five - Beat It

_They told you don't you ever come around here, _

_Don't wanna see your face, _

_You'd better disappear. _

_The fire's in their eyes _

_And the words are really clear: _

_So beat it, just beat it. _

_**- Beat It by Michael Jackson (cover by Fallout Boy) **_

_"Do you like her?" Ten-year-old Alex blurted out as she sat sandwiched between her uncle and her sister on the couch in his house. Her mom had sent them to stay with her uncle for a few weeks in the summer. Alex wasn't complaining. It was nice to have a little vacation from everything that went on at home. She always worried about how her mom would be when they returned but for now there was nothing she could do. As long as their daily phone calls kept up she was okay. Plus, she loved visiting Uncle Bill. He took them everywhere and let them stay up late and never raised his voice. Ever. He got angry sure, but he never yelled. Not the way their dad did. _

_"Who?" Bill remarked wryly, a smirk forming on his lips. "Scarlet?" _

_Alex nodded vigorously, her ponytail bobbing synchronously. _

_"Dad always says I remind him of her." _

_Bill fought to keep the disdain out of his voice. _

_"How come?" _

_"Because… " she took an exaggerated breath. "Because I'm spoiled, I'm…" her brow furrowed. "Feisty?" she looked to Bill for confirmation she had selected the right word. "And I have a mouth on me." She cast a glance at her sleeping sister. _

_Bill laughed weakly for her benefit, his dislike of her father only growing as she spoke. _

_"Do you think he's right?" her blue eyes fixated on him intensely. _

_Bill considered his words carefully. _

_"A little." He decided on, knowing he would have to explain his answer. "You're passionate." He glanced at her. "Do you know what that means?" _

_She ran her tongue over her lips. "It means when I like something I really like it…right?" _

_Bill smiled. _

_"And you're smart." She looked pleased with this. "And you're tough…" she looked even more pleased with this. _

_"Remember when you got those stitches and didn't cry or anything?" _

_"Yup. So you think I'm like her?" _

_"In some ways…Good?" he poked her arm affectionately. Alex sighed exasperatedly. _

_"I was hoping you'd say because I was pretty…but Claire's the pretty one." _

_"AND because you're stunning." _

_She colored, knowing he was just being nice. Claire was the pretty one. Claire looked like their mom had when she was a little girl, which was basically like a doll. Alex still had some baby fat left on her and was taller than most of the boys in her class and her hair always looked knotted and frizzy. She wasn't pretty like Scarlet. _

_"I don't want to be like her." She decided. _

_"You don't?" _

_"No. I think she's mean. She's mean to everyone…she doesn't care about anybody…not even the people that are nice to her." _

_"You don't think so?" _

_"No. You do?" _

_Bill grinned. "Yes. I just think it takes her a while to realize it. She needs to grow up." _

_"Does that happen?" _

_"What?" _

_"You care about someone and not know it? I know everyone I care about…why does it take time? Shouldn't you just…know?" _

_"Some people are stubborn." He told her simply. _

_"Am I?" _

_He laughed loudly. "Yes. You, my dear, are definitely stubborn." _

_"Is that bad?" _

_"Nope." He told her firmly. "You just know what you want…right?" _

_"Right." She agreed happily, turning back to TV to watch a panicked Scarlet running rampant around Atlanta before Rhett finally arrived to save her. She started a little when something exploded on-screen and curled her feet underneath her legs, squishing a little closer to Bill on the couch. He smiled affectionately and wrapped an arm around her as she pressed her head on his chest. _

_"I'm not scared." She assured him. "Just tired." _

_"Well then maybe we should get you to bed - "_

_"No!" she protested abruptly. "I want to finish it."_

* * *

"Hey…" Rick slumped down on the couch in Bill's office which Tony was temporarily occupying. Tony smiled slightly.

"Hey…how you feeling?"

Rick shrugged. "They want me at Division now too…The perimeter team pulled in a bunch of Svenski's guys and we don't have the room to work them all over here." he caught the look his brother was shooting him. "I'm not doing anything crazy, so don't worry..."

Tony scowled. "Fine. I'm supposed to call Bill when Alex gets back."

Rick nodded, hesitating for a moment.

"How's Michelle?"

"Okay. She's resting now. I'm not supposed to try anything until she wakes up."

Rick laughed softly. "I meant to check on her, it's just been…"

"Doesn't matter."

"Anyway I just uh…wanted to see how you were doing…and if anyone's giving you any crap lemme know."

Tony raised his eyebrows.

"Just…some of the analysts don't like new management… even if it's only temporary and I can uh…take care of him for ya…"

"I'll manage." Tony remarked wryly.

Rick grinned. "I know…just thought I'd offer…we can't all be the hero of the day and save your wife."

Tony smirked a little. "You trained her…"

"I know…" Rick smirked back. "I guess I finally did something right, huh?"

* * *

Michelle was still fighting against taking the painkillers. Truth be told, she was too tired to feel much of anything at this point and she'd rather be awake when Tony came back with updates on what had happened with Alex and Svenski. She couldn't help but feel a little bit protective of her (she was the one who had gotten Alex into this after all) and the idea of her running operations with _Jack_… Michelle winced a little. Alex was still just a kid and she knew only too well how operations with Jack tended to turn out.

The door to Medical swung open and Michelle shifted to try and see who it was. It wasn't Tony. She could tell immediately from the way they walked into the room; Tony had been tentative all day and practically treating her like she was made of fine china. This person moved a lot faster and a lot more purposely towards her bed and the anxiety welled up in the back of her throat as she twisted to see who it was.

She relaxed immediately when she caught site of her brother-in-law, still as insanely attractive as ever. She smiled and he beamed back, the relief evident on his face.

"Hey'ya gorgeous," he uttered softly, his left hand coming to smooth back the hair from her forehead.

She choked out a laugh. "I'll have to take your word for it, I've been to chicken to look in the mirror yet."

His expression spread into a grin that was a lot more at ease now.

"My word's as good as gold, Dessler. You know that…"

"That's true."

It was easy to relax around Rick for a number of reasons. First of all, she'd seen him in action enough times to know that should any danger come about there would be very, very few people in the world who would have the upper hand against him in a combat scenario – Jack included; second, he had a way of being reassuring without having to say or do much that was undoubtedly reminiscent of his brother; and third, he wasn't his brother which meant there was no lingering worry about the conversations they were going to have to have one day when she had recuperated and talking was necessary. There wasn't that lingering problem of how he might react when the whole truth came out.

He continued to smooth her hair back soothingly off her forehead as he sat down on the edge of the bed. His touch was as little firmer than Tony's which she appreciated in that moment. At least not everyone in the world was going to treat her like she was made of fine china.

"So how are you…really?"

Michelle's expression changed immediately. She didn't look angry or upset but the brightness he managed to elicit from her was gone.

"I'm okay."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"I will be." She corrected, changing the mood again. "Apparently I'm shacking up with you for the next little while though?"

He smiled softly and nodded.

"Don't worry though, it's _way_ better than that place I had at Langley. This one has walls between the rooms and everything."

Michelle laughed. "Can't wait."

"Anyway, I'm supposed to be going to Division so…" her hand immediately reached for him.

"Would you mind staying a bit…" she hesitated. "Tony's still upstairs and it's getting a little creepy being here alone…too much time to think and stuff."

He nodded solemnly. Michelle wasn't the type to admit things like that so the fact that she flagrantly told him she didn't want to be alone said a lot.

"Sure…what should we talk about?"

"Anything…" she poked his hand. "You…how are 'the ladies'?"

He laughed loudly at her inflection.

"That only works 'cause you're cute…"

She smiled.

" 'The ladies'" he waggled an eyebrow. She laughed too. "Are MIA. A lot changed when I came back to LA. I'm hoping that since you're around now to occupy Tony I might get out a little bit more…"

"I'll see what I can do." She hesitated before moving on to the next question.

"Did Alex get Svenski?"

Now it was Rick's expression that changed.

"Yeah…she's bringing him in now for interrogation." He studied Michelle for a few seconds and added: "She's fine."

Michelle pursed her lips together.

"Tony said she was around a lot after…"

Rick nodded heavily. "She stayed at my place for six weeks after…well…when we thought… I don't need to tell you what it did to Tony. Everyone was afraid he'd start drinking again…" he bit his lip. "To tell ya the truth, she was the reason he got through it at all. I thought it was gonna kill him, but uh...Alex seemed to really get under his skin. He didn't want to disappoint her or something…"

Michelle's eyes welled with tears and Rick immediately went white.

"Damn it, Michelle. I'm sorry. You don't need to hear that…"

"No." she wiped her eyes gruffly. "No, I want to. It all worked out, right?"

He inclined his head softly and let out a deep breath.

"You should get to Division…Bill might need your help."

"Yeah…" he leaned in and pressed a firm kiss on her forehead. "I'll see ya later, alright?"

"Mhm…"

"Promise?" he tapped the side of her cheek lightly and she smiled.

"Promise."

He grinned and was gone.

* * *

"How did you want to handle the debriefings?" Nadia asked Alex as they leaned over opposite ends of the Conference room table.

"Debriefings can wait until I'm done with Svenski."

"Do you want Chloe to run Comm.?"

Alex bit her lip hesitantly. Chloe was the best but Chloe was also Chloe. Chloe's head also wasn't in the game right now and Chloe might have been a whiz with computers but that wouldn't make the difference in this case.

"No. I want you…"

Alex's eyes had focused on something outside in the bullpen and she stared in disbelief. Her face went ghost white and her fingers gripped the edge of the table to maintain her balance.

"Are you okay?" Nadia asked with concern, resting a hand lightly against her shoulder.

"Yeah uh…" Alex gulped. "Tell Tony I'll meet with him in ten minutes to go over everything, right now I just…" her voice trailed off and she pushed out of the room before Nadia had time to ask what was wrong.

A man, well over 6ft tall, with dark hair and broad shoulders stormed through the bullpen. Nadia watched Alex approach him with equal ferocity as she made her way upstairs.

"Tony…do you know who that guy is?" Nadia asked Tony the second she stepped inside his temporary office. He glanced down at the man and frowned as security escorted him through CTU.

"I'll find out right now…" he snatched up the phone and began dialing the number for the gate.

"I think Alex knows him. She was acting a little strange" She told him uneasily as they watched the two finally come face-to-face. He smiled widely, but Alex had folded her arms across her chest and popped her hip out slightly. They couldn't see her face from the office.

"How the hell did they bring someone in here without either of us authorizing it?"

Nadia shook her head. "I have no idea. Alex definitely didn't know he was coming. You should've seen her face."  
This made Tony even more nervous. He handed Nadia the phone.

"Let me know what you find out. I'm gonna go see what this is about…"

* * *

"Aly!" The man called affectionately, beaming with pride. "Look at you…"

She had about a million cuts and bruises all over her arms, her jeans were ripped and fraying, her t-shirt was smudged with dirt and there was a large gash in her pale cheek. Look at her indeed.

She stated coldly, her face motionless. "What are you doing here?"

"How have you been-?"

"What do you want?" in that split second her voice betrayed the fact that her whole body was shaking.

"I don't have time for this. I'm getting ready to interrogate a guy we've been trailing for the last year."

"I just wanted to talk to you Aly."

"Like I said." She hissed. "Not a good time."

"I can wait." He smiled gently and reached out a hand to stroke her cheek. She pushed him away.

"What do you need? An alibi?"

He laughed harshly.

"Then what do you want - "

Tony approached and her sentence was cut short. His brow creased when he saw the anguish on her face and came to stand beside her.

"Everything okay?" he raised an eyebrow and she gulped, nodding slowly. The man, easily towering over Tony, extended a hand.

"Ben Evans. I came to see my daughter."

"Tony Almeida."

Tony studied him carefully, sizing up the situation.

"I realize she's busy…but I'll only need a few minutes. Senator Warrington, a good friend of mine, would appreciate your cooperation."

The voice in Tony's head told him not to, under any circumstances, leave them alone. Alex looked…scared? He'd never seen her scared before. There was no way he was leaving her alone with this guy…no matter who his friends were.

"Y'know…I don't think that's gonna be possible right now. We're in the middle of an something here."

"You can't really being using Aly for an interrogation…I mean, c'mon we give you people enough money…surely you can afford someone a little more intimidating..."

"Alex is the best." Tony finished loyally, his eyes hardening on Ben's. "And I need her right now."

Alex felt a renewed sense of confidence at the statement.

Ben looked furious.

"Mr. Almeida, I'm sure you have people who can fill in for her for the rest of the day…"

"I don't." he stated flatly.

"I want to spend time with my daughter. It was my understanding Bill Buchanan was Director of CTU now. I didn't know we were still allowing felons to run our agencies."

"You can call whoever you want…Alex is not going anywhere." Tony bit his lip to keep from saying more.

"Perhaps I'll ask the Senator to give you a call then…and Buchanan" Ben threatened, his face remaining neutral.

"Can't wait." Tony retorted with an eye roll and turned to security. "You can escort Mr. Evans off the premises."

Security started to pull Ben away and he shouted at Alex that he'd 'see her later' before he was completely out of site.

"You okay?" Tony grabbed her elbow gently as she started breathing normally again. She blinked the moisture out of her eyes and turned to face him.

"Thanks I just…couldn't deal with that today."

"You need a breather?"

"No…" she assured him firmly. "I'm fine. He just caught me off guard."

Tony's hand circled her back a few times quickly.

"Alright."

* * *

"Ms. Yassir, I'm sorry. Mr. Buchanan is in a meeting with Homeland Security. He won't be available for the next half hour."

"This is urgent." Nadia emphasized firmly. "Have him get back to me as soon as possible."

She hung up the phone just as Tony returned.

He scratched the side of his face awkwardly.

"Anything?"

"Security said he identified himself as her father and started name dropping…apparently he knew the guy running the gate. I tried calling Bill but he's still in the meeting with Division and they won't interrupt."

"Is she okay?"

Tony frowned. "I hope so."

* * *

Alex's fingers itched to get downstairs and interrogate Svenski. This was years of work on her part and it was finally paying off. She was just happy that Bill had convinced Division to interrogate before they shipped him off to Guantanamo. She was a little worried they'd go too easy on him and there was no doubt in her mind she wouldn't have that problem.

She was moving along the corridor briskly, the encounter with her father pushed into the back of her mind when a hand grabbed her elbow and dragged her into the nearest Interrogation room. It was completely empty and completely off the way of the main corridor.

"Make a sound and you'll regret it." The voice hissed in her ear, shoving her against the wall and locking the door. "You can't run away from me this time."

Ben folded his arms across his chest and watched her catch her breath.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Watch your mouth." He lectured. "And what I want is to talk to my daughter for the first time in six years. I didn't think it was too much to ask."

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and glared at him.

"You never used to look at me like that…" his voice softened. "Bill sure did a number on you. He never liked me y'know."

"You make it seem like I had a choice." She retorted angrily. "Mom died and you disappeared. Where else were we supposed to go?"

He mused. "When did you start hating me so much?"

"I always hated you, don't act so surprised." she snarled back. "I hated you as soon as I was old enough to know what you were doing. You're giving me crap about running away? You ran away from everything. You ran away from whatever fucked you up in the first place by taking it out on us…and you ran away when Mom died..."

"I wouldn't have had to have disappeared if you had kept your damn mouth shut…but you had to go blabbing to the cops about what happened within our family. You destroyed our reputation and there was no need for you to do that – it didn't save your mother."

"_You killed her_!" Alex screamed, the emotion heavy in her voice.

"If you had just behaved like your sister you never would've been involved. Claire knew what went on was our business, not yours - "

"You killed her and your buddies in Congress saved your ass and you got the charges dropped."

Her voice had turned shrill and she was panting heavily.

"I wanted to say something sooner but Mom wouldn't let me... She felt _bad_ for you. Said things had happened there we would never understand and it would take some time for things to be normal again… Ten years! Ten years and you were still doing it and she was still defending you!"

Her rants had leveled but she was still fuming.

Ben stared, a flicker of pride showing behind his eyes. "Things happened there you would never understand. I never wanted to hurt you, or your mom or Claire…"

"You had no excuse for what you did…ever! I don't care what the hell happened to you…lots of people go on covert ops…lots of people live through horrible things and you don't get to use that to justify what you did…you don't get to - "

"You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know how good you had it…"

"Go to hell." She hissed.

"You spend a few weeks at Langley and suddenly you can take care of yourself?"

"The _reason_ I started doing this was so that I could take care of myself! So I didn't have to need you or worry about you anymore and I don't."

"You can forgive the people you work with: murderers, convicted _traitors_…you give them a second chance but you won't give me one."

"You've already used yours…" she muttered under her breath. Her father smiled.

"What goes through your head every time you kill someone, Aly? Does it bother you?"

She didn't respond. Suddenly she felt sixteen again, afraid of what he might do to her if she pushed him too far.

"You know who you get that from don't you? You know who you have to thank for the fact that you can murder without even thinking about it? The reason these people seem to think you're actually good at this? That's what makes you valuable Alex…that and nothing else."

She looked at the floor.

"Damn it, Alex!" he roared suddenly, like she'd just ignited his short fuse and within second she found herself pinned against the wall, completely at his mercy.

* * *

Nadia raced across the floor, Tony hot on her heels.

"Ben Evans showed up half an hour ago."

The color drained from Bill's face.

"What did he want?"

"To talk to Alex. I got rid of him but uh…she seemed pretty shaken up."

"Where is she now?"

"Prepping interrogation."

Bill excused himself and made his way towards the rooms. Rick bit his lip.

"He beat them…mostly her mom. He used to work as a Mercenary." Rick stated quietly, hoping for a reason to go after Bill and make sure she was okay. "And then one day he took it too far I guess and her mom ended up dead…she told the cops everything and then somehow they ruled it as suicide. He disappeared after that."

Tony scratched the side of his face and shook his head in disgust.

"He wanted me to leave him alone with her. He could've killed her."

"So that's why…" Nadia was cutoff when the alarm sounded signaling a lockdown. The phone started ringing seconds later and Tony snatched it up.

"Almeida."

"Tony, Alex's been missing for the past fifteen minutes and the security guards that were with Ben never checked back in. He's still in the building." The panic in Bill's voice was evident.

Tony swore vehemently and turned to Nadia and Rick, recounting what he'd just been told.

Rick took off instantly, groping for his gun as he ran down the hall. Tony found his own weapon and ordered Nadia to watch the floor.

"I'm waiting for you to show me how you take care of yourself Aly…" he hissed, throwing her to the floor and kicking her side. She moaned and curled up into a ball.

"What's wrong? Not so tough now you little bitch? You ruined my goddamn life."

He kicked her again and she just lay there. She was waiting for herself to pass out. There was blood pouring from her nose and mouth; at least a few ribs were broken and her head had been slammed into the floor repeatedly. She was sure she had a concussion.

_Fight back_…her mind urged. _He's going to kill you if you don't._

She couldn't though. A few words from him and she was nothing but a scared kid all over again, hoping that the pain would finally stop. That he'd finally get tired and walk away…

In that moment the door swung open and Alex was blinded by the light streaming in. She saw her father reach for a weapon but another person disarmed him easily and threw him across the room. In the vague recesses of her foggy mind she heard voices shouting and then everything went black.


	7. Injection

Disenchanted

**A/N: **_So this is the last chapter chapter (though, there will be an epilogue. I'm actually considering making it a two-parter since most of you are so interested in seeing more of what happens to Michelle…). I hope everyone's enjoyed this story. I have two more parts in the works dealing with the same sets of characters if anyone is interested in that (there's also more of a focus on the original 24 characters in those ones). Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed and all of your comments and critiques. I really appreciate the feedback very much. _

Chapter Six – Injection

_So give me the drug,__  
__Keep me alive,__  
__Give me what's left of my life,__  
__Don't let me go.__  
__Pull this plug,__  
__Let me breathe,__  
__On my own I'm finally free…_

_Don't let me go. _  
_**- Injection by Rise Against **_

_"Evans, if this is too much for you to handle…" _

_"I'm fine, sir." She panted desperately, her body threatening to collapse on her as she shook off the last couple of blows she'd received that had knocked the wind out of her. The instructor she was sparing against looked almost apologetic, which she resented more than words could even describe. He hadn't looked apologetic when he he'd thrown Wiley to the ground with unfathomable force in two moves. He was going easy on her now. While everyone else had seemed to manage to figure out how to defend against this guy she had yet to leave him even slightly out of breath. _

_"Nothing's changed, Evans. You're still the only person who can't figure this out and we don't have all day for you to try to get it right. This isn't basic training anymore." _

_The vomit rose in her throat and her eyes stung with tears. _

_"I'm fine." She repeated, sounding less convincing this time. _

_"You're not fine. You can't handle the combination and - "_

_"She's fine, Phil." Rick's voice resonated icily from the back of the room. She groaned internally. She hadn't known he was watching. That made it all that much worse. He took a few steps towards them. _

_Phil lowered his voice so only Rick could hear him. _

_"The last thing we need is for her to go crying to her uncle because she couldn't take the heat." _

_Rick shot him a dirty look. Alex was the last person who would ever go crying to anyone about anything and they all knew it. She couldn't be expected to be the best at everything just because half of the instructors at basic training had been in awe of her. Every one of these guys had been the top five percent of the total class and she didn't exactly have the size advantage any of them did. She had to rely purely on skill and needed a little more time to refine hers. Phil was just being an asshole._

_"Al, get up." Rick told her firmly, his eyes never leaving Phil. "You've got one more round in you." _

_Alex contained a grunt and stumbled to her feet, steadying herself on the wall and taking a few deep breaths before turning around to face the instructor. _

_"Alright." She managed to keep her voice steady. "I'm ready."_

* * *

Rick was breathing heavily as he heaved Ben Evans against the wall and pressed his weapon against his temple.

"Try it again…" He threatened, shoving him again against the concrete. Right now he couldn't manage to look at her. He was too afraid for what he might see.

Bill and Tony entered the room behind him. Tony shouted out the door for Medical and Security and Bill drew his own weapon.

"You son of a bitch." He shook his head at Ben, not knowing what else to say or do. The guilt overwhelmed him in that moment. He should've been there.

Despite the fact that Rick was practically strangling him now Ben remained unruffled. He huffed and puffed in a few gulps of air whenever he could, looking almost pleased with himself. Rick scowled and shoved harder as Tony and Bill moved to her crumpled form.

"Al…" Tony crouched over her, touching his hand to her cheek. He blinked hard a few times at the sight of all the blood, feeling nauseas.

"Al, c'mon…" he tapped her cheekbone. Bill was hovering over them now, as Tony ran his hand threw her hair repeatedly.

The Medical team arrived in under a minute just as Alex finally regained consciousness. She thrashed and moaned as they tried to touch her.

"It's alright..." Tony soothed gently, easing her against him. He could practically feel the collective wave of relief that rushed through the room as soon as she started responding.

"They're just examining you."

Tears started to stream down her face and she stuttered something inaudible, her lower lip starting to swell.

"Do you know where you are?" Tony pushed Alex's matted hair out of her eyes and eased her shirt up to allow the medic to examine the bruises.

She gulped and nodded, fresh tears forming and cringing as they tried to work on her.

"We need to get her downstairs." The medic informed Bill as a few more field agents arrived to arrest Ben. Their eyes went wide with horror as they stared at the scene before them but they remained where they stood. Now didn't seem like a good time to ask questions.

"C'mon kiddo…" Tony breathed, lifting her off the ground as Bill moved in simultaneously to help her towards the stretcher.

"Rick…" Bill turned at the last second as Alex was whisked away to Medical.

"Rick, he's in handcuffs. Let him go."

Rick hesitated for a second before lowering his weapon and ordering the agents to put him in a Holding room. He shot Ben a contemptuous look before following the others.

* * *

"Oh my god!" Michelle exclaimed, sitting up quickly, her own pain forgotten. "What happened?"

She received no answer from the doctor but Bill ran in an instant later, his cheeks flushed and his brow creased.

"Will she be alright?" he asked anxiously. The doctor ignored him and continued to examine Alex.

"Will she be alright!?"

"No internal injuries from the looks of it." The doctor explained gently. "Once we confirm we just need to patch her up a bit. A few ribs appear to be fractured and she'll be swollen for a few days. She should make a full recovery." She winced when the doctor touched her side.

"Can you feel that, Alex?"

She moaned and nodded, trying to keep still.

"She'll be fine, Mr. Buchanan."

"Thank god…"

"Bill, what - ?"

"Her father showed up. Tony tried to get rid of him but he got away from Security and cornered her. We got there just in time"

Michelle stared at her sadly and shook her head.

"Is he in custody?"

Bill nodded. "Rick restrained him. We'd just gotten back from Division."

Michelle glanced at the bed where Alex lay motionless. Bright red stains were forming on the sheets beneath her as the doctor worked to examine her more fully. A few bleeders were cauterized before they brought in the x-ray machine to check for internal injuries. When they declared her clean Alex said nothing, and promptly fell asleep with a blank expression on her face.

* * *

To his credit, Rick waited a full ten minutes after Bill had left (to his chagrin actually, but Nadia had rushed in saying he had an urgent phone call) before entering the room. His stomach dropped the second he saw her, something he'd been purposefully avoiding since they arrived at the scene. It was surreal in a way; he'd seen her beat up before but never like this. The back of his throat tightened uncomfortably and he ran his fingers through his hair, finally turning to Michelle.

"What'd they say?" the anxiety in his voice was obvious. Michelle was reassuring.

"No internal injuries…She'll recover fully." She shifted uncomfortably and Rick let out a sigh of relief.

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, crossing the room slowly and running his fingers through his hair as he stared down at her, his chest swelled with indignation when he watched the blankets rise and fall softly with each breath she took. The blood pounded in his ears as he pictured himself getting his hands on her dad for what he did.

His hand brushed the fringe off her forehead before moving to cup her cheek. His thumb slid across her cheekbone and he tilted his head over her body and brushed his lips against the side of her ear.

"You'd better be okay, Evans." He whispered, managing to keep his voice steady in case Michelle could hear him. He inhaled softly, taking in the warmth from her cheek before pulling away and swallowing the thickness that had formed in the back of his throat.

* * *

"Bill…" Jack's voice echoed across the bullpen and Bill spun around to face him.

"Svenski's en route to the airport. He didn't give us much in the interrogation…a few names. Chloe ran a search but they were nothing we'd seen before."

Bill nodded. "Thanks for taking care of that."

"What happened with Alex?"

Bill gritted his teeth.

"She's in Medical. They don't know much yet. Her father's in Holding."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No." Bill shook his head softly. "Thank you. I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Alright."

* * *

"Ah…Jesus…" Tony's hand moved to the back of his neck, rubbing it awkwardly. His eyes landed on the bed where Alex slept, her breathing slightly labored, before turning to Michelle. There was something about Alex that seemed so helpless now. She was a far cry from the person who had pulled her out of Svenski's clutches mere hours before.

"She'll be okay." Michelle told him quietly. "It just took a lot out of her."

And passing out from exhaustion was easier than facing what had just happened; Michelle knew that as well as anyone.

Tony's brow creased as his hand moved from his neck and ran his fingertips briefly across the sheets that were draped over Alex. He too marveled at the change in her. Now she was nothing more than a kid who'd just had the crap beaten out of her.

"Where's Bill?" Michelle quietly interrupted his reverie. It was the first time all day thoughts of her hadn't been consuming him entirely.

She had his attention again now. He crossed the room towards her.

"Upstairs dealing with this…" he scowled bitterly, wondering if he hadn't been so preoccupied with his wife he might've thought enough to escort her father outside himself, or at the very least kept her in plain view until Bill and Rick got back. Even if he hadn't known the full story, one look at her face during the encounter should've been enough of a clue. After watching Alex throw herself into the lion's den to bring Michelle back he should've done more.

"You okay?" The tables had turned and Michelle smiled gently at him now, reaching for his hand. She was sitting upright in bed and looked more like Michelle than she had all day.

He nodded gruffly, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"I knew better than to leave her alone…"

"You were watching the floor, Tony. You couldn't have possibly known this was going to happen."

He sighed and hung his head. "I still knew better. I've never seen her like that before…"

"Her father would've found a way to get to her regardless." Michelle stated firmly. "Better here than when she was home…god knows what could've happened if she'd been alone."

Tony shuddered at the thought. There was a brief pause before he leaned in to press a warm kiss against Michelle's lips. She smiled when he pulled back, forehead tilted against hers.

"You look better." He mumbled quietly, the words brushing against her nose.

She nodded softly. "I feel better."

She meant it. He could tell she wasn't trying to mask her discomfort. She was still in pain but it wasn't as bad as it had been before. Tony brushed her hair off the back of her neck.

"If Bill's gonna be stuck dealing with this I think I should stick around just in case… Once this gets squared away we'll get outta here, 'kay?"

She nodded again, initiating the kiss this time.

" 'Kay."

* * *

"Chloe said you were looking for me…" Rick announced minutes later. He frowned when he saw Jack also present along with Bill. Their attention was directed to the phone on his desk. Rick didn't like it already. He felt like he was being ambushed or something. Apparently that was the theme for the day.

"What's goin' on?" he raised an eyebrow at Bill and folded his arms across his chest. Bill, he noticed for the first time, looked deeply upset.

Bill sighed heavily. He felt more worn out than he ever had before. This had been the final straw and he didn't know how he was going to explain this to everyone – to Alex. If it had been up to him he would've shot the man pointblank and asked questions later. Now he was wishing he had…

"This is Nancy Harris from Senator Warrington's office." The woman's crisp voice resonated over the speaker. "The Senator is ready for you."

"Mr. Buchanan…" a deep voice came on the line.

"I understand you're the man in charge…and therefore the man I need to speak with."

Bill's jaw tightened.

"Yes sir. That's correct. I've also got my Head of Field Ops, Rick Almeida, in the room with me."

"Good evening, Senator." Rick deadpanned. He didn't like the tone Bill had in his voice now. He was always respectful, but never submissive. Now he sounded defeated and that made Rick uneasy.

"I understand you retained custody of Ben Evans…you realize he's a hero to this country as well as a dear friend of mine."

"He assaulted one of our personnel, sir." Bill explained with such unbelievable restraint that Rick was in awe. Had he been forced to respond the expletives that fell from his lips wouldn't even begin to accurately describe the rage he felt in that moment.

"And you're pressing charges?"

"In accordance with District regulations, Senator." Bill responded flatly. "Mr. Evans was asked to leave the premises - "

"In your absence I understand, and by a convicted traitor who was conveniently running CTU at the time and has not been a permanent fixture in DOD for several years - "

"And his actions are supported by myself and Division…_Senator_." Bill finished, a sarcastic edge to his voice. Jack shot Rick a look that suggested he was thinking along the same lines: Bill wasn't sarcastic by nature, and that more than anything suggested how furious he was.

There was a moment's pause before Warrington spoke again.

"Mr. Buchanan you are to transport Mr. Evans to LAPD headquarters. From there Secret Service will pick him up and I will deal with him personally."

"Senator Warrington, with all due respect, he assaulted one of my people and as Director of this office I wish to see to it that he is prosecuted accordingly."

"I understand that. I also understand that you have familial ties with the alleged victim - "

"Who Evans also has ties with…" Rick muttered under his breath.

"- Who, my sources tell me, instigated the incident between them. I would hate to think your personal loyalties are getting in the way of your duties…"

"The _alleged victim - _" Rick snarled. "Was ambushed by this guy after he broke away from Security – who he also assaulted - when he was asked to leave the premises…he then attacked one of my people!"

"Mr. Almeida, contain yourself. My office is quite capable of dealing with Mr. Evans' indiscretions and unless you would like your professional competency brought into question, Mr. Buchanan, I suggest you have him at LAPD headquarters within the hour."

Bill glanced at Rick. He didn't have a choice. He'd always known he didn't have a choice.

"He'll be there, Senator." Bill spat out. Rick's eyes widened as the Senator thanked them. As soon as the line went dead Rick erupted.

"What the hell was that!?" he stared in disbelief. "Warrington will release him! He beat the crap out of Alex a few hours ago and you're just _letting him go_!?"

Bill sighed dejectedly. "It's not up to me. Ben can get out of anything. He's always been able to. If they start question family ties in the case - "

"You and Alex will never be able to work for DOD again." Jack finished icily. "So we're letting him go."

Rick continued to stare at the phone on the desk with his nostrils flaring slightly.

"I should tell Alex." Bill finally muttered after a moment's silence. Rick ran his fingers through his hair.

"Wiley and I will take him to LAPD ourselves." He knew it didn't matter. He knew Ben'd be released without so much as a smudge on his permanent record in a few hours time, but at least he felt like he was doing something. Maybe he could slip in a few verbal warnings about ever laying a hand on Alex again…rough him up a little bit…anything to feel like he was doing something.

* * *

"Hey ya, kiddo." Tony smiled affectionately as he sidestepped the bed Michelle had been in and brushed the hair back from Alex's face. She had a few stitches above her brow line and one of her eyes was turning black.

"How ya doin'?"

She shrugged, her blue eyes vaguely notable through puffy slits; anything to avoid talking about what had just happened. It didn't seem like she had much of a choice though.

Tony sighed, pushing her hair off her forehead again so he could kiss her gently.

"You alright?" he repeated, mouth against her temple. Alex swallowed the emotion rising in her throat and nodded gruffly.

"Where's uh…" she gulped. "…my dad?"

Tony sighed and curled his fingers through her hair as he pulled away.

"Holding…Wiley's got him restrained."

"What's gonna happen to him?"

Tony bit his lip. He didn't know what to tell her. He knew Bill had received a call from Senator Warrington's office and was probably getting chewed out for leaving him in charge while he and Rick were away. Beyond that, he could only imagine how bad things would get.

"I dunno Al. They're trying to figure that out now…"

Both Tony and Alex glanced at the doorway as someone cleared their throat to interrupt. It was Bill.

"Tony, can we have a minute please…"

Tony nodded, smoothing Alex's hair lightly off her face as he rose from his position on the bed and moved out the door. Bill replaced him looking grave and Alex sat up a little bit.

"'Sweetie, we need to talk…" he said softly, squeezing her hand lightly on the bed. She frowned.

"You got a call from Warrington?"

Bill nodded. "And apparently he has some sort of relationship with your father."

He watched the color drain from her face and her jaw clench.

"Which means what…?"

Bill sighed heavily. "That upon his request, we have to hand him over to Secret Service for prosecution - "

"Warrington won't prosecute him!" Alex exclaimed angrily. Bill nodded again.

"I know honey. He threatened to use my connection with you against us and if that happened both our careers would be on the line…"

"So we're releasing him…We're handing him over so they can release him…"

"We're to take him to LAPD headquarters within the hour and Secret Service will pick him up from – Alex!"

Alex had leapt from the bed, ignoring her injuries completely, and was hurrying down the hallway. If he was getting released he was facing her one more time. In the back of her mind she knew it wasn't going to make a difference. She knew seeing the damage he'd done to her wouldn't make him feel anything close to remorse but she wanted to see him anyway.

"Alex!" Bill exclaimed as she pushed past the room Tony and Michelle had been conversing with the doctor in. They both observed her form darting past them and Tony glanced at Bill as he followed her to the parking garage.

"What happened!?" Tony exclaimed.

"Her father's being released to Secret Service and she…" Bill trailed off as he ran down the hallway after her with Tony right behind him.

Alex didn't hear them coming after her. She didn't hear her name being called. The walls of the corridor blurred and it wasn't until she burst through the door and into the parking lot that things finally came back into focus.

The backdoor of one of their transport vehicles was open and she watched as her father waited patiently – still in handcuffs – to be moved inside. Wiley had a hand on his elbow but it was merely there by convention and she knew it. After a second of staring her feet started moving towards them again. She hated him. She hated him so much. She should've killed him the second he attacked her. She should've shown him that he wasn't going to do those things anymore and get away with it…not unless he killed her first. This wasn't about him hurting her. This was about her mom and Claire and... Alex hated herself more for freezing than she did him for laying a hand on her. A vision of herself ripping Wiley's gun from its holster and puling the trigger overwhelmed her as she reached the midway point and a voice interrupted her thoughts and bolted from the driver's side of the vehicle.

"Al!" Rick was standing in the way of her advance in no time, his hands on her arms.

"Al, look at me…" his hands moved to her face and he directed her gaze directly at him. She moved her head but he pulled her back. "No, no…don't look at him, look at me…"

She obeyed, her cheeks burned against his skin from the anger but she obeyed.

"Al…" he lowered his voice softly. "It's okay…Wiley and I are taking him to Secret Service."

"I want to come with you!" she blurted out desperately. "Take me with you…"

He sighed softly and brushed her hair off her face. "Why?"

"I should've killed him." he heard the catch in her voice and swore his own heart snapped clear in two when he did.

"I should've…I could've…I just…"

"No." he told her firmly. "Killing him doesn't change anything and watching him get handed over to Secret Service won't make it any easier and there is nothing you can do right now…" he watched the tears well in her eyes and pulled her forehead against his. Her raspy breathing slowed gradually and she let out one final, deep breath. She nodded against him and he pulled back slightly.

"Wiley and I will take care of this. Alright?"

The look on her face was sheer agony. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to pull her gun level with his chest and blast him to kingdom come; she wanted to see him squirm and to have him beg her not to kill him; she wanted to prove that he should be afraid of her and what she was capable of. The tears threatened to spill over her lids.

"Al…" his hand moved back to her cheek and his eyes locked on hers. They were heavy with exhaustion but still managed to look reassuring anyway.

"I'll take care of this. Trust me."

She gulped hard and finally nodded wordlessly. He released her with a final squeeze to her forearm. "I'll see ya when I get back." He glanced at Bill and nodded slightly. Bill moved to where Alex stood. In that moment she felt younger than she had in years.

"Honey," Bill's voice entered her thoughts and she felt his hand on her. He wrapped an arm around her.

"Come on…you need to rest." She didn't resist as she was directed inside CTU once again.

* * *

"Hey, you ready?" Tony asked softly, finding Michelle gathering her few belongings in a plastic bag.

"Mhm." She inclined her head, the exhaustion obvious on her face. He glanced around briefly to make sure they were alone before sidling up behind her and curling his arms beneath hers. Michelle mewed softly and tilted her head back against his shoulder. He felt good against her and the warmth from his body was comforting.

More than anything he was just relieved she didn't pull away the second he tried to hold her. Michelle had always had this thing where when something bothered her she seemed to rationalize he wouldn't be able to fish it out of her if she kept her distance.

Apparently she didn't care now.

"Where's Rick?"

"Taking uh…her dad to LAPD with Wiley. He'll meet us back home."

Michelle shook her head back and forth a few times against his shoulder.

"They're letting him go…" she hissed.

"Yeah, honey." He answered her non-question. Michelle sighed.

"It's not right." She gulped.

"No…it's not. Bill didn't have a choice." Tony agreed sadly. "Alex will be fine though, she's on her feet already. She'll be okay."

"I know…but that still doesn't make it right."

Tony exhaled softly and kissed the top of her head.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you gonna be alright?"

She turned around smiled widely at him for the first time in six months. Hi stomach clenched painfully as he reached out a hand to smooth the pad of his thumb across her cheek.

"Yeah." She assured him simply. "I'll be fine."

* * *

"Hey…" Jack's voice echoed a little hoarsely in the office and Bill snapped his head back. It'd been resting in his hands a moment before.

"Hey Jack. Are you leaving?"

Jack ran the tip of his tongue over his teeth.

"Soon. I think it's easier this way before word gets out to my daughter or…" he gulped hard. "Audrey."

Bill nodded solemnly and rose from his feet.

"I understand. Thank you for sticking around today…"

Jack inclined his head gruffly. "I'm glad to hear Alex's is gonna be okay…" It wasn't so much that she reminded him of Kim, but that what Bill had been going through all day reminded him of what he used to go through when he was still…

"Thanks, Jack." Bill managed an uneasy smile. "If there's anything you need…"

"Thanks."

They clasped hands briefly and Jack was gone.

* * *

"Hey…" Jack glanced up in time to see Tony entering the bullpen.

"Hey." Tony's teeth appeared briefly on his bottom lip.

"How's Michelle?"

Tony's hand moved to the side of his face.

"Alright, I guess. She's been sleeping most of the day and then I was on the floor and stuff and uh…things got a little hectic…" his eyes lowered to the ground.

Jack reached out a hand and patted his shoulder firmly.

"She'll be alright. She's probably still in shock after what happened. It was a lot to take in."

"Yeah…" Tony exhaled. "You're probably right."

Jack smiled a little awkwardly.

"You takin' off?" Tony glanced around briefly. Jack nodded.

"I was just saying to Bill that I'd rather Kim doesn't get any word…"

There was a few seconds of silence before Tony finally spoke.

"Jack uh…listen, thanks for everything."

"Yeah. Anytime. You know where to find me if you or Michelle need anything."

"Yeah. Take care of yourself, alright?"

"You too."

* * *

Alex had stepped inside Rick's office, cell phone clenched tightly in her palm, and staring blankly at the desk before her. Her fingers ran over the glass and she breathed deeply a few times. This was one of her quiet places at CTU. The sounds of the bullpen were diluted heavily and she often slipped in here just to catch a moment or two to herself before facing the chaos again.

_Rick's alive…Michelle's alive…and Svenski's in prison…_she chanted silently to herself as she stood rooted to the ground. _Rick's alive…Michelle's alive…and Svenski's in prison…_ Today had been a good day, a great day even. One of the most significant threats DOD had encountered in years had been contained, Michelle had miraculously been spared and…

_And they're letting him go. _

"Al…" Tony touched her shoulder gently and she startled, spinning around with a formed fist. She relaxed when she saw him.

"Hi."

Tony scratched the side of his cheek and ran his eyes up and down her obviously exhausted, obviously beaten form. He pulled his hand away and sighed.

"Michelle and I are going home in a few minutes…I told Bill we'd take you with us. He's still got some stuff to take care of."

She shook her head. "I want to wait until Rick gets back. Plus…I need to help with some of the debriefings and - "

"You haven't slept in almost two days. Division gave the stand down orders. They're not doing any more debriefings until tomorrow."  
He watched her jaw clench as she spoke this time.

"I want to wait for Rick."

"You've done enough today. You need to sleep."

Her eyes welled with fresh tears and she shook her head gruffly.

"I know I just…"

He studied her carefully, the corner of his mouth pinched as he watched the conflict transpire on her face. She was ready to collapse but her stubbornness was keeping her there…not that he, himself didn't know a thing or two about that.

"C'mon Al…" he reached out a hand towards her. "There's nothing else you can do right now. It's over."

She glanced briefly down at the bullpen, noting Jack and Bill conversing in a far corner. Chloe O'Brian was grabbing her bag and heading towards the exit and the newest shift of fresh eyes and minds were settling in front of their computers.

Her gaze met Tony's and she nodded softly, allowing him to guide her towards the staircase. She flicked the light off on her way outside, a stabbing pain shooting through her ribcage as she pulled the door to Rick's office shut. Her cell phone slipped into her pocket and Tony's hand touched her back as she descended down the stairs and ran tired fingers through her straggly blonde curls. She tugged at her tank top and smiled slightly at Jack who caught her eye on the way towards the exit.

It wasn't even close to being over.


	8. Epilogue Part One

Disenchanted

**A/N: **_Yay for epilogues! I decided to make it a two-parter since the first one just got too long. It was supposed to be merely a snapshot of their lives immediately following the events but I decided to do it a little differently. The first part takes place immediately after the day and the second part will take place a more significant period of time after the day. I was going to post them both at once but I'm still working on part two and well…this way is more fun for me : ) _

Epilogue – Part One

Michelle felt a little unsteady on her feet when she followed Tony into Rick's apartment. It was still afternoon but the drawn blinds made everything appear darker than it was. She tensed, grateful for how quickly Tony found the light switch, and smiled reassuringly when he looked to her. Noting how exhausted he too must be, Michelle glanced around in search of the nearest place to sit down. She eased herself onto Rick's overly squishy sofa that she was sure she'd have a hard time getting out of later. Her sides ached and occasionally she'd feel a sharp, stabbing pain somewhere on her body. Her head was pounding. It was as though all the injuries she'd been trying to ignore were making themselves known now. She groped for a throw pillow and tilted her head against it. The room was spinning and she closed her eyes.

"Can you eat?" Tony asked uncertainly from the doorway he was leaning against. In that simple moment it occurred to her how much she had missed _him_. The first few hours from her capture had been filled with sheer joy at not having to endure the extent of their torture anymore, but now she could truly appreciate his presence. Svenski's cold voice resonated in her mind and she shuddered.

_"Come on, Michelle. You know you don't want to do this anymore. Just tell me what you and Evans discovered and this can all be over." _

_She'd said nothing, a blank expression on her face as she forced herself to focus on the cement wall a few feet in front of her. Sweat poured down her brow and she quivered internally. She heard Svenski sigh patiently, turn to converse with her guard in Russian and leave… _

"Michelle?" Tony's voice interrupted her reverie uncertainly. She snapped her neck round quickly to face him, wincing when it aggravated her already aching head.

"Sorry…what'd you say?"

"You hungry? You must be starving…"

Michelle's stomach grumbled, but it was painful more than anything else. She felt nauseous and not much like eating.

"Actually…I'm not really…"

Tony raised an eyebrow skeptically and crossed the room towards her. He sat down on the couch as well, making a point to leave some space between them.

"The doctor said you should eat something, honey. I know you don't feel like it but uh…"

"Maybe something small." She managed a sort-of smile to ease the worry on his face; she would try anything to make him worry about her less.

"I think we've got soup or somethin' lying around here…"

Her smile became a little more prominent.

"Sure…I'll leave the cooking part up to you since we um…both know I'd manage to screw it up somehow…" she tried a familiar joke, a wry smirk playing on the corners of her lips. His mouth twitched a little and he nodded.

"Yeah…I don't think Rick would be too happy if we burnt down his place before he got home…"

Michelle grinned and nodded as Tony stood up slowly and made his way into the kitchen. She curled her legs into her chest and allowed her eyes to close for a moment. She was tired, but her mind was too active to sleep right now.

"Honey…"

Her eyes whipped open at the sound of Tony's voice and she saw him place two steaming bowls onto the coffee table. She hadn't realized how much time had passed. The soup smelled amazing and she told him so, hoping it might assuage his anxiety a little.

"It's nothing fancy." Tony warned as he sat down beside her. Michelle sat up and reached for her bowl, taking a spoonful and bringing it to her lips. As soon as the liquid hit her empty stomach the sting overwhelmed her. It felt like her stomach was contracting hard in an attempt to suck as much nutrition as it could out of the small amount of food. Tony was watching her, but she ignored him and reached for another spoonful. This one went down a little easier and she managed to contain her discomfort. It took a few more attempts before the soup was sliding down her throat almost painlessly and Tony picked up his own spoon.

* * *

It was nighttime when he finally rang her doorbell. He was exhausted and could've used a few hours of shut eye first, but had decided against it because a) he hadn't seen her in almost twelve hours and hearing from others she was okay didn't do much to assuage his fears; and b) Bill sounded like he was as close as Bill would ever come to losing his mind completely when he'd called minutes before to say that he had to leave for a while.

There was a tactical vehicle sitting directly outside the front of the house and he knew there'd be someone covering all the other entrances. Comm. would have the feed transmitting over Bill's laptop the entire time he was at Division, as well as to CTU in hopes that the new shift might pickup anything he missed. The measures Bill was taking made Rick even more nervous, because Bill wasn't paranoid by nature. He was actually surprised they hadn't been moved to a safe house.

Rick swallowed the anxiety that had quelled up in the back of his throat and pressed his finger to the doorbell.

Claire Evans answered looking pretty and perfectly groomed as usual. He watched her poke her head through the window before sliding back the deadbolt and swinging the door open. Her big blue eyes stared back at him and the relief was evident on her face. He noted her eyes were different from Alex's; were a little paler with a hint of green in them whereas Alex's were electric and piercing. It seemed like a stupid thing to notice at the time, but he did anyway. He thought it was Tony who'd mentioned it to him before – after prison – he said something about noticing things on people you never had before when you came close to losing them. Little things, but things that were uniquely them; things you would've missed when they were gone. Thinking back, Rick considered the possibility that he might've been drunk when he told him that, but it still didn't make it any less true.

"Hey Claire,"

"Hi." She barely whispered. Her hands were shaking and she just stared at him blankly for a few moments. Wiping her palms on the backs of her dark jeans, she tugged her pink cashmere sweater further around her lithe body.

"When did Bill leave?"

"A few minutes ago." She managed. "I didn't know you were coming…"

"I was on my way out of CTU…he called me." Rick explained gently, before indicating to the bags he held. "Look, I even brought supplies."

Claire smiled a little and stepped back to let him in. With his free hand he pulled her against his stomach.

"I can't believe he came back." She mumbled quietly, the top of her head barely reaching his chest. "I can't believe he did that to…"

Rick quietly shushed her and ruffled her curtain of almost white-blonde hair.

"We took care of it, alright?" he lied.

Claire nodded, pulling back and wiping her eyes.

"How's she doing?"

Claire bit her lip uncertainly. "A little better I think. She's tired but she won't sleep. We've been watching TV all night; she hasn't said much."

Rick smiled reassuringly and moved the bags to the kitchen before making his way into the living room. Claire stayed behind to empty the provisions.

In the den he found Alex wrapped in an afghan and his old _Northwestern_ sweatshirt that she stole at least once a week from his locker. She said it was the softest sweatshirt in the world and since he was _always _too warm he certainly shouldn't get to claim it for himself. He let her steal it without any more than mock-serious protest, because it looked better on her than it ever would on him anyway…

He tried not to think about how close she'd come to not being around to steal his sweatshirt from his locker…or reach over in the middle of a meeting and take a gulp out of his mug before crinkling her nose at the bitter taste of his black coffee.

_See? _He could practically hear Tony reminding him. _Little things._

The hood of his shirt was pulled up over her head in what he could only assume was an attempt to mask some of the bruises from Claire. She didn't want her sister staring at them all night and worrying. Claire always worried. Alex jumped when she heard his footsteps on the landing. The fireplace had been turned on and she'd curled in the corner of the indescribably comfortable, brown leather couch that Rick himself had passed out on more than once.

She didn't smile when she saw him, but she didn't look upset either. The anger he'd felt earlier at the sight of her bruises was replaced with sheer guilt. He should've been there.

"Hey." Her voice was hoarse. She needed to sleep.

"Hey." He lowered his volume as he closed the distance between them. He slipped onto the couch beside her and tugged the hood down, studying her shiny cuts and the few stitches across her brow. She winced.

"Don't look at me like that," she scowled and pulled away.

"You okay?"

"I'll live…though I'm pretty sure Claire doesn't think so."

He laughed half-heartedly, moving out a hand to rub her shoulder. She trembled beneath him, but he managed not to react.

"Nice shirt." He mumbled sarcastically. He tugged at the sleeve, hoping to get a laugh out of her. He did, though it was a small one that made her cringe in pain.

"Thanks." She responded, her eyes crinkling at the corners when she finally glanced at him. "It's from this guy I know…he keeps saying he's gonna hide it from me but somehow he never manages to get around to it."

Rick ran the tip of his tongue over his lips.

"Mhm…maybe he's just being nice."

Alex snorted and he nudged her affectionately. The tension in her muscles had dissipated a little as a result of his close proximity. The truth was, she'd made Tony duck into his locker for her on the way out that day so she'd have something to go home in that wasn't covered in blood. It was the strongest defense she had against closing her eyes and seeing her dad pounding her over and over and over again. It was a little easier to distance herself from those images when she was wrapped in Rick's sweater that was warm and soft and smelled like him.

"I brought you presents." Rick poked her gently in the arm after a few seconds of silence.

Alex cocked her head to one side.

"Such as…"

"Well…money to order pizzas…" she rolled her eyes "_And_ all six seasons of _I Love Lucy _…and apparently my sweatshirt…and some chocolate if you behave and take all your painkillers…"

She grinned at him.

"The good stuff?"

He made a face as if to say _obviously. _

She sighed contentedly and slid a little closer to him, resting her cheek against his shoulder and breathing deeply.

"Thanks."

* * *

When Bill stepped inside his front door very late that night he proceeded warily into the den. He breathed a little easier than he had all day when he realized Alex was asleep, her head pillowed on Rick's chest. Rick's eyes snapped open at the sound of his footsteps and he inclined his head slightly in Bill's direction. He was sitting in a slightly reclined position with his back against the armrest of the couch and his feet still on the floor. His neck was a little stiff and he couldn't have slept more than a few minutes.

"Hey,"

"Hey." Rick yawned.

"How is she?"

"Okay…she dozed off a little while ago. There's some pizza on the counter if you want..."

Bill thanked him quietly, a slight pang in his stomach as Alex sifted slightly in her sleep and curled more tightly against Rick. He stepped up to the back of the couch, reaching over to smooth circles across her back.

"Claire went to bed?"

"Yeah…" Rick yawned and smirked a little as he indicated to the TV. "Right before Lucy met Bob Hope. What time's it?"

"Three-thirty."

Rick groaned and cursed softly.

"Did you get everything done?"

"Yeah…thank god. I'm going in until noon tomorrow."

Bill ran his fingers through his hair.

"Thanks for doing this, Rick…you should go get some rest."

Rick bit his lip.

"Y'know what uh…she just fell asleep... I'll stay here a bit longer if that's alright with you…"

Bill nodded almost immediately. He was just relieved she was resting. He bent over to kiss her quickly on the top of her head before bidding Rick goodnight and disappearing up the stairs. He hesitated slightly when he reached his bedroom door. He convinced himself to go to bed because he knew she'd be okay with Rick there, and that come morning her uncle would probably be the last person she wanted to deal with.

Once Bill had gone, Rick flicked off the TV completely. Alex's eyes opened briefly as he swung his feet up onto a cushion, slid further down on the couch and pulled her more fully on top of him.

"You still with me, Yankee?"

She mumbled something incoherent and he smiled.

"Are you staying?"

"Is that okay?"

She nuzzled her face against his cheek and closed her eyes again.

"You need to shave."

He laughed, tightening his arms around her waist, her body now almost completely on top of his now.

"I've been a little busy, y'know." He remarked wryly, his own eyes getting heavy now.

Her lips curved upwards slightly.

"I'll let it slide this time." She decided drowsily.

He smiled, pressing his face into her hair for a few seconds and tugged the blanket further over them, allowing himself to drift off again.

* * *

"Michelle?" Tony entered the spare bedroom cautiously, but Michelle jumped about a mile and spun around.

"You left…" she sounded almost accusatory. Tony shook his head softly.

"What?"

Her brow creased. "You didn't come to bed last night."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassed.

"Yeah I did, I uh…Rick called late to say he was gonna be at Bill's for a while, so I slept in his bed…I didn't want to wake you."

_If sleeping was dozing in and out of consciousness as he listened for anything that could possibly suggest something was amiss_. It was killing him not being in the bed beside her, but he hadn't wanted to push it. Michelle had fallen asleep on the couch before she even made it to the shower; the only contact all evening had been the brushing of her feet against the side of his leg. He'd carried her to bed, but she hadn't been awake for that.

Her frown deepened, but she didn't make anymore mention of the sleeping arrangements. Instead she crossed the room slowly and slid her arms beneath his, linking them in the small of his back. Her cheek came to rest against his shoulder and she inhaled deeply, the scent of his aftershave fresh on his skin.

He felt the tension leave his body briefly, his chin resting against the top of her head.

"Don't do that again, 'kay?" she whispered against him. His stomach clenched at her words, but he nodded so she could feel it.

"I missed you too much."

He was overcome with emotion at her words and blinked back the stinging in the corners of his eyes.

"Whatever you want, honey."

She pulled away after a few seconds and kissed him chastely on the lips.

"I think I'll try taking a _hot_ shower…" she tried her best to sound carefree. She leaned in again to press her mouth quickly to his cheek and disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

Rick heard footsteps on the stairs and jolted awake. Their position had shifted slightly in sleep and he somehow managed to slide himself out from beneath Alex and make his way into the kitchen. He felt a little groggy and was uncomfortable and sweaty in his clothes. His neck was stiff from the couch and he rubbed the back of it as he entered the kitchen. Bill was already dress in a suit, his tie undone but hanging around his neck.

"Hey…" he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair and squinted in the brightness of the early morning sun.

"Hey." Bill indicated to a full pot of coffee and handed him a mug.

"You look like hell."

Rick snorted as he filled his mug and glanced at the stovetop clock.

"What are you doin' up so early?" It was just before nine.

Bill shrugged. "I didn't sleep much actually. I figured the sooner I get everything sorted out at Division the better."

Rick nodded, reveling in the feeling of the piping hot coffee sliding down his throat.

"I can take care of CTU. I'd ask Tony for a hand but I think uh…I don't want to bug him to come back in today."

"Of course not. It can wait." Bill assured him easily. He glanced at the doorway and Rick turned to see Alex yawning and stretching. She groaned exaggeratedly, her hair sticking out at odd angles, and glanced between the two of them.

"Morning."

Bill bit his lip as he studied her appearance. Alex looked even worse today, the bruises having time to deepen on her pale skin. She moved slowly, in obvious pain.

"Hi sweetie," he reached out to embrace her tenderly.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine." She pulled away abruptly. "When do you want me at CTU?"

Rick and Bill exchanged a look.

"Not today, Aly."

"What?" she stared at her uncle incredulously, "We have a million things to do and you're gonna be at Division for most of the day. We have debriefings and - "

"We'll manage." Bill told her firmly. "You're staying home today. Claire will keep you company."

Alex scowled. "She doesn't need to do that."

"Aly please, just do this today for me…okay? You can go back to CTU tomorrow." He looked at her earnestly and she fought the urge to protest. He was sick with worry. The least she could do was suck it up and sit at home for a day to placate him.

She really didn't want to sit at home though. She wanted to do something so she didn't have to think about everything.

"Okay." She agreed quietly, her eyes on the floor. "I'll go back tomorrow."

Bill cupped her cheek with one hand and kissed her temple.

"Thank you." He reached for his coffee mug and downed its contents. "I won't be gone that long…"

"I'll head in soon." Rick assured Bill.

"Is your arm okay?" Alex turned and studied him carefully.

"Yeah, yeah. They're gonna clear me for field work this afternoon. I'm fine."

"Good. Let me know when you get in." Bill bade them both goodbye before heading into the entranceway. The front door closed a second later.

Alex gasped, gratefully sliding into one of the chairs at the table. It was taking every ounce of her strength to stand up, but she hadn't wanted Bill to know that. Rick reached for another mug and added milk and sugar to the coffee before placing it in front of her and sliding into the chair beside her.

"You alright?"

"I really don't want to sit here all day." She clamped down on her lower lip, her fingers caressing her mug anxiously.

"There's just…fuck, I hate this."

"One day won't kill ya."

"Don't be so sure."

Rick mouth's twitched into a half-smile and he took a sip of his own coffee.

"Are you sure your okay?" her eyes searched him earnestly. "You lost a lot of blood."

"I've had worse."

"I could come in and help a bit so you can get out of there faster…"

"You're staying here." Rick told her flatly.

She sighed _fine_.

They sat in silence for a few moments before he spoke.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Nope."

Rick bit down on his lip to keep from saying anything.

"Are you still pissed off about me going to get Michelle?" She raised her eyes from her hands and tilted her head to one side. Changing the subject was a good idea. His expression softened a little.

"No…but I did want to talk to you and uh…clear some things up."

Her brow creased, a slight shiver running through her body at the way he was looking at her. The good kind of shiver. The kind that made her heart palpitate and her mouth run dry.

" 'kay."

He leaned in close, his face almost against her cheek. She could feel the words passing between his lips as he spoke.

"Just uh…" he tilted his forehead against the side of her temple. "Next time you wanna do something crazy and suicidal like that, lemme know so I can do it with you…"

She turned to face him with a slight smile on her face.

"Deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

It was two days later and Michelle awoke to the sound of the door of the apartment being opened. She glanced at the bedside alarm clock. It was just after seven.

Her body tensed until there was a gentle knock at the door to the spare bedroom. Rick poked his head inside. She smiled groggily.

"Hey…" he yawned, eliciting one from her as well. "How's it going?"

Michelle flopped back against the pillows and closed her eyes. She shrugged.

"Fine. I feel like I've done nothing but lie around since we left CTU." Her voice was scratchy with sleep.

Rick sat down on the bed near her feet and patted the leg nearest him.

"Yeah funnily enough, six months of interrogation takes a lot out of a person."

Michelle snapped one eye open and studied him for a few seconds.

"And you know this from experience?"

He smiled weakly, but didn't answer. Michelle's other eye opened, both were cloudy still, but the bags under them had faded a little.

"Tony's at CTU?"

Rick nodded softly. "Yeah…showed up like an hour ago. Hammond's got Bill spread too thin and Tony's better at dealing with a lot of this stuff than me. He'll get it done faster."

Michelle smiled to herself. Tony would've never agreed, but he really was good at it.

"Alex is back at work?"

"Mhm…" he rolled his eyes. "Let's just hope the two of them agree on everything or we'll be dealing with a national crisis..."

Michelle laughed lightly because it was one of the first things she'd noticed about Alex when she first came to Division. Part of the reason she liked having her around so much probably had something to do with how similar they were (particularly in terms of degrees of stubbornness). The best part was neither of them seemed to realize it.

"You want me to let you get back to sleep?"

"Nah…" Michelle sat up. "I should move around a bit. Maybe I'll nap later."

Rick rose, offering a hand and pulling Michelle to her feet.

"So how 'bout some breakfast, Dessler?"

* * *

She hadn't eaten much since her rescue, and for the first time in a long time Michelle was absolutely ravenous. Rick took this as a good sign and made her an omelet, and then another when she polished off the first in five minutes flat. She told him twice it was the best omelet ever, and then added wryly not to tell Tony just in case he took it a little personally. She'd always insisted the best breakfast she'd ever had was the one he'd made her following their _first night ever _together.

A slightly uncomfortable feeling overcame her as her thoughts went there. She was relieved when Rick sat on the stool across from her and she focused her attention on him. In addition to the food, Michelle thought the company she was having breakfast with that morning was pretty fantastic as well. She asked Rick about work, about his sisters and the newest addition to the family – his three month old nephew – and his parents.

"I talked to Dad…they want to come out and see you when you feel up to it. I dunno if Tony mentioned it yet…"

Michelle shook her head slowly, a warm expression on her face.

"Probably just didn't want to push it or anything." Rick suggested. "And you gotta see the baby Michelle. He looks exactly like Lisa and I don't even notice crap like that."

She grinned easily. "Who are the godparents?"

Rick bit his lip and hesitated. He knew why she was asking.

"Rach and Harry's brother." He saw the surprise on her face. Tony had always been particularly close to his middle sister. Rick sighed.

"Yeah… uh…" he scratched the side of his cheek. "Tony wasn't talking to anyone when she had him…he hasn't seen him yet either."

Moisture pooled in the corners of Michelle's eyes, but she blinked it away quickly.

"Well then I guess it'll be good to see everyone." She managed a smile.

"Did you talk to your brother?"

"Mhm…I think we're gonna go visit him on the weekend actually. Maybe we can see your parents next month."

Rick nodded encouragingly.

"Just…word of warning. Don't mention Alex to my mom."

For some reason, Michelle wasn't surprised.

"What happened?"

Rick winced.

"There was an incident…after the…funer..." he trailed off. "Let's just say they don't like each other too much."

Michelle snorted at the face he made. Rick decided it was better not to go into details about the argument. Especially considering what it had been about.

"So uh…" Michelle leaned a little over the table. "Can I ask you something?" there was a glint in her eyes that hadn't been there in what felt like forever. Rick cocked an eyebrow. No matter what she was about to ask he'd missed this about Michelle.

"Go."

"What's going on with you and Alex?"

Rick groaned exasperatedly at her devilish smirk.

"Not you too."

"It was just a question!"

He rolled his eyes. "Nothing's going on…alright?"

"How come?"

"You're just a troublemaker." He shook his head in amusement. "Nothing's going on because it's not like that."

"For some reason I don't believe you."

"Believe what?"

"That's it's not like that."

Rick snorted. "There's nothing to tell, Michelle…but if there were you'd be the first one on my list. Alright?"

Michelle grinned and nodded. "I'd better be."


	9. Epilogue Part Two

Disenchanted

**A/N: **_Last part! Thanks sosososososososo much to everyone who's been reading this story of mine. I really appreciate it more than you could possibly imagine. This part turned out way longer than I expected it to, but I think it works and makes all the points I was trying to make. It takes place a few weeks after the last part._

_ Epilogue Part II  
_

The look on Tony's face when he saw a somewhat windswept Alex step into his brother's apartment was nothing short of relief. For the last two weeks Tony had been alternating between days at CTU and days at home. Rick had asked for his help while Bill was refitted for his previous role at Division and he couldn't say no. Michelle told him to go.

Tony smiled as Alex fell onto the cushion beside him. She rested her head against his chest and curled an arm across his stomach as his own hand moved to the middle of her back and gave it a few firm pats. She sighed exhaustively and closed her eyes.

"Hey Tony…" she drawled belatedly. He chuckled softly.

"Hi Al." he mocked. She grinned, opening her eyes again and glancing at the TV.

"Where's the missus?"

"Shower." He indicated to the soft sound of running water down the hallway.

"Any better?"

Tony hesitated, knowing she would probably pick up on the hidden meaning of his response. The truth of the matter was that this little pre-dinner cuddle was the most intimate contact he'd had with anyone in a long time, with the exception of the occasional kiss goodnight or good morning or 'hi, honey how was your day' from his wife and those hadn't exactly seemed natural.

He felt Alex exhale against him and tapped his index finger against the side of her cheek.

"I think she's got more energy now. She's been moving around a lot more…"

Alex shot him a look that suggested that hadn't been the type of progress she was questioning him about. Tony bit his lip.

"She's still not talking."

Alex lowered her head back to his chest and considered his comment carefully.

"You want me to try?" she suggested after a few minutes. Michelle had adamantly refused the counseling Bill had suggested and Tony had encouraged and she still wouldn't talk to anyone. Alex still planned on giving it a go though, despite Tony's hints that if Michelle didn't want to talk about it Michelle wouldn't talk about it.

"You can try." He mumbled hoarsely. "I don't think it'll do much good."

"It might." She snuggled a little closer. "I have ways."

Tony laughed and she relaxed a little. It was only too obvious how worried he was about Michelle's lack of interest…particularly in him. On the surface she seemed fine, but anyone who knew her at all knew better, and he knew her better than anyone.

Alex waited a few seconds before groaning loudly at the TV, as if just noticing what they were watching.

"How badly are your boys getting creamed?" she snickered as Tony walloped her affectionately across the back of the head. He pointed out that 'his boys' were up by 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th.

Alex rolled her eyes and settled her focus on the game, throwing in a few offhand comments for good measure.

"Rick'll be sorry his missed this."

She snorted. "Are you kidding me? The TV in the break room is set on ESPN permanently. In fact I have this theory that you rigged it like that way back when you started at CTu...y'know…right after baseball made the switch from radio to television…"

She shrieked when his fingers dug into her sides and tried to wrestle free without much real effort. He finally stopped tickling her, snickering when she muttered profanities under her breath.

"So I guess the odds of converting you to a Cubs fan are pretty slim…"

"About as good as the odds of converting you to a Yankee."

The face he made was priceless and Alex laughed loudly just as Michelle entered the room with wet hair, a pair of sweats and one of Tony's old t-shirts on.

"Hey." Michelle smiled brightly, observing they're slightly reclined position with amusement.

"How was Division?"

"Awful…and now your husband is making me watch this crap…" she responded good naturedly. Tony pinched her again warningly and she rolled her eyes.

"You look good." Michelle commented gently, seating herself in the loveseat opposite them. Alex smiled.

"I was gonna say the same thing. How are you feeling?"

"Better." Michelle replied earnestly and then added with a pair of raised eyebrows at Tony. "Hungry."

Tony cocked an eyebrow sarcastically, his eyes suggesting he wasn't as relaxed as that. Alex seized the cue immediately.

"I have an idea… Michelle and I can go grab some dinner and you can finish your game… Rick'll be home soon anyway."

Alex had lifted her head enough to see Tony's eyes widen. To say he'd been slightly paranoid since Michelle's rescue would've (understandably) been an understatement. It was part of the reason Alex had an inkling it might be good to get her out of the house.

Her blonde locks brushed against his cheek as she sat up completely.

" 'kay?"

Both Michelle and Alex saw him hesitate. Michelle hadn't said anything. The truth was it would be a nice change to get a little air and a little time to herself. She'd felt somewhat smothered the past few weeks, which hadn't been helped by the fact that she still hadn't told him the whole truth. It was hard to be around Tony constantly when they both knew she was hiding something from him.

He nodded, mumbling a _fine_. Alex's face brightened and she inclined her head towards the hallway, ordering Michelle to go get dressed.

Alex leaned over and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Trust me." She told him earnestly before following Michelle into the spare bedroom.

* * *

It was a warm night, without the humidity that came with summer. The mid-May sea air was nothing short of refreshing and Michelle relished in the freedom that came with strolling down the Santa Monica Pier. Unlike Tony the few times they'd gone out, Alex seemed perfectly relaxed. She smiled easily when she caught Michelle studying her and Michelle smiled back, pleased to see her bruises were almost gone completely. The sun had already set when they walked leisurely down the road back towards Alex's car after dinner. Michelle had forgotten how much she'd always enjoyed Alex's company – how the twelve years between them seemed barely noticeable most of the time.

They were halfway across the parking lot when Alex threw her for a loop.

"You drive stick, right?" she asked innocuously. The BMW 330ci they had taken was _technically _hers (a gift from her very wealthy grandparents for her 16th birthday) but her sister was the one who drove it now. Michelle turned to stare at her, wondering what she was getting at.

"Yeah…I learned years ago…why - ?"

She barely had time to think fast when Alex tossed her keys directly at her chest. Michelle caught them, a sense of dread overcoming her. She hadn't been behind the wheel of a car since…

"Alex, I don't think I can." Michelle told her quietly, her eyes on the ground. Alex kept walking, as if she refused to entertain such ludicrous.

"Of course you can."

"I haven't driven since…"

Alex's hand wrapped around her elbow and they stood motionless in the middle of the parking lot.

"Michelle…" she gritted her teeth. "I know it sucks and I know it's scary and you probably don't feel ready yet but…if you don't do this they win." She told her flatly. "It's like any terrorist…if you let them stop you from living the way you used because you're afraid _they win_. So you just…you bite the bullet and you do it once and the next time it doesn't seem so scary anymore."

She watched Michelle take a deep breath, her eyes closed and her fingers tightened around the keys.

"Alright."

Michelle was shaking like a madwoman when she slid into the driver's seat. Alex's hand curled around her shoulder reassuringly while she fought to repress the images of what had happened that day. She'd already relived them a million times and she needed to learn to live with them. She didn't want to be completely derailed anymore.

Michelle exhaled deeply and nodded, pushing the key into the ignition. Her fingers twitched before twisting.

She flinched as the car roared to life beneath her. When the engine hummed gently she started breathing again. Alex's hand had moved to her back and rubbed a few circles into it.

"Okay?"

Michelle licked her chapped lips and inclined her head softly.

"Yeah." She gasped, feeling like she'd just run a marathon. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Michelle moved her hands to the wheel and she took her time to feel the texture beneath her palms. Her right hand moved to the gear shift and her left foot teased the clutch, getting a feel for the pedals. She sighed and turned to Alex.

"Where to?"

* * *

"So when'd you get so smart?" Michelle accelerated onto the PCH, shifting gears easily and revving the engine slightly. The car handled the curves without much effort. It felt good, she had to admit; they had the roof down, the stereo was on, and Alex had her head tilted back against the headrest, eyes closed. The sound of the Pacific Ocean resonated in the background.

"What do you mean?"

"This was your plan all along."

"Partly." The girl opened her eyes. "Let's just say I'm experienced in repression."

Michelle laughed dryly.

"Svenski likes to try and break you emotionally." Alex stated innocuously, as if the conversation were about the weather. Michelle took her eyes off the road briefly to gauge her expression.

"That's his thing…" she shrugged. "Makes sense really; you can train someone to tolerate physical pain but emotional…how can you protect yourself against that?" she bit her lip. "I mean…people don't just stop _feeling_. No matter how tough the person is they're still human. It's pretty smart actually...and it's why he's such a bastard."

Alex watched Michelle's face change when her ramblings finished and her eyes grew cloudy. Alex reached over and covered her hand on the gearshift.

"Pull over." She indicated to the side of the road, overlooking the ocean.

"I'm okay." Michelle assured her quietly, obviously not.

"Pull over." Alex repeated firmly. Michelle obliged, putting the car in park and shutting off the engine. They stared out at the ocean for a long time.

It was a few minutes before Alex finally broke the silence.

"I know they raped you, Michelle."

Michelle heart started to pound in her chest and a cold sweat overcame her.

"W-what?"

Alex turned to look directly at her and cocked her head to one side.

"Right?" she didn't sound accusatory, but she wanted confirmation.

She watched carefully as the tears pooled in Michelle's eyes, threatening to spill over. Her jaw clenched and she kept her eyes on the ocean, speaking finally after a minute.

"Right." Her voice cracked and Alex's hand was immediately on her arm. Alex swore heavily under her breath, as her fingers tightened. A few loose tears slipped out of Michelle's eyes and she wiped them away quickly with her free hand. Alex bit her lip, throwing her door open and pushing outside of the car. Michelle watched through watery eyes as she smoothed her hands over the railing and swayed forward on the balls of her feet, eyes on the horizon and the black water below.

Michelle stiffed a sob with the back of her hand, feeling the cool breeze against her tear-stained cheeks. Her breath rattled in her chest, and she stopped fighting the emotion that had welled up inside her. Thoughts of what had happened – thoughts she'd been fighting against for the last two weeks – finally overwhelmed her and she fumbled with her seatbelt, shoving it to the side letting her head fall to her hands.

She had thoughts of them hovering over her…thoughts of them sliding her pants down her hips and pushing into her. She heard Svenski telling them to go easy – they needed her to be able to talk – and she remembered biting down on her lip to keep from saying anything as it transpired. It didn't happen a lot, but once was enough; alone in that little room she'd never felt the same afterwards…

Alex winced when she heard Michelle whimper from the car, but stayed against the railing. If it were her, she'd want the time to breakdown without an audience…

She shuddered when a memory came flooding back but she ignored it. This wasn't about her.

Michelle let herself cry for a good ten minutes before attempting to calm herself down. Alex picked up on the subtle change in the rhythm of her sobs and took a few tentative steps back towards the car. She stepped up to the driver's side door and pulled it open, crouching down to bring her eye level with Michelle.

"I haven't told him yet." Michelle's voice trembled as she spoke. Alex nodded softly.

"I know he knows something happened I just…" she shook her head. "How am I supposed to tell my husband that…" she shuddered. It was a rhetorical question, which was good because Alex didn't have an answer.

"He loves you though." She said it simply and matter-of-factly because for the past six months all she'd done was witness exactly how much Tony loved Michelle. It was heartbreaking and sweet and kind of amazing really.

Michelle nodded, her sobs had turned to sniffles now.

"I know. It's still a hard thing to say though."

Alex bit her lip. "Michelle…you can't move past something if you're still trying to deny it happened…"

Michelle finally met Alex's gaze and she nodded definitively.

"You're right. I have to tell him."

Alex indicated for Michelle to move over and slid into the driver's seat. She took her time moving the seat back while Michelle fumbled to get buckled in, her hands still shaking slightly.

They were quiet for the rest of the drive back to the city, but Michelle felt more at peace with herself than she had since her capture. She managed to quiet the anxiety that was bubbling up inside her at the thought of going home and telling Tony well… everything. She knew she had to do it tonight or risk losing her nerve and she sensed that Alex might've known this too as she sped down the highway, accelerating whenever possible. It was like a race to keep Michelle's nerves from getting the best of her…

She would do it tonight though. She needed to.

* * *

They found Tony and Rick watching the post-game on ESPN with the volume up full blast. Michelle had to stifle a laugh. They'd probably turned it up during the game so they could hear the broadcasters over their shouting and hadn't realized how deafening it was now.

Alex slid into the cushion of the loveseat Rick's feet had been on and shot him a look of mock annoyance when he nudged her gently with his toes.

"How was your girlie thing?"

Half her mouth kinked upwards into a grin.

"Good."

"What'd you do?"

"Usual. Pillow fights in our underwear…lathered each other in oil and wrestled…"

She laughed easily when he used a little more force when he shoved his foot into her a final time, before bringing his feet to rest in her lap. Michelle had finally entered the room and moved onto the couch beside Tony. She kissed his cheek briefly and left her body leaning against his. The gesture was intimate enough to merit Tony shooting Alex a raised eyebrow.

"How was the game?" Michelle asked, her attention was on Rick but her fingers were squeezing Tony's knee.

"We won."

Michelle met Alex's eyes and Alex seized the cue. She nudged Rick's foot with her elbow.

"Wanna go see that movie?"

Rick frowned at her and glanced at his watch. It was almost eleven and he hadn't had an early night in over a week. Neither had she.

"Now?"

"Yeah. We can see a late showing…" she jingled her keys in front of his eyes like one might to a child. "You can even drive."

"Can we wait until we've had a decent amount of…" his eyes followed her subtle inflections and he took the hint.

"Actually, now works."

Tony obviously realized something was up, but kept his face neutral. Rick rose exhaustively to his feet, grabbing Alex's extended hand and pulling her up behind him.

"I'll be back later." He told Tony and Michelle as he slipped his shoes on and grabbed his own keys. Alex called a _Night guys_ as she pulled open the apartment door and Rick followed her into the hallway.

"So uh…" Tony glanced sideways at Michelle as he reached for the remote. "What's up?"

Michelle twisted more on the couch and he did the same so that they were facing each other. She observed him carefully for a few seconds before finally speaking.

"I just uh…" she sighed. "I know the last little while has been crazy and I know I haven't talked much about what happened but…" she felt the anxiety bubble up in the pit of her stomach.

"I mean, I can talk now if you want."

Tony brought a hand to his face, clawing aimlessly at the opposite cheek before nodding a little.

Michelle took his affirmation and ran with it, knowing if she backed down know she'd lose the bravado she'd worked up on the ride back home. She'd been toying with two possible ways of breaking the news the Tony – the blunt way Alex had called her out on what had happened, or a more delicate but deceptively more painful admission. In the end, she decided on something between the two.

"Honey listen…" she pushed her hair behind her ears. "When I was…when I was captured they did things to try and get me to talk."

He said nothing, but she saw the anger form behind his eyes. His arm tensed under her fingers and she sighed.

"They…raped me." She probably didn't need to state it so harshly for him to realize what she was getting it, but in a way it was cathartic; it was her final admission of what happened.

She saw the vein on the side of his neck pulsing slightly beneath his skin and his jaw clenched. The room crackled with tension and you could've heard a pin drop.

"I uh…" she hadn't realized until know she'd started to tear up, and now they were falling down her cheeks. Michelle had honestly hoped her breakdown in the car might've helped her keep it together for this conversation. It was hard enough to watch him take the news without her coming apart.

"I'm sorry."

He stared at her incredulously, finally speaking.

"For _what_?"

She took a deep breath. "For not saying anything sooner…for…" she bit back a sob. "For not trying harder to…"

She'd lost her words completely when he pulled her into his arms. He was shaking slightly beneath her, but he eased her cheek against his chest and enveloped her in a vice grip.

"Don't apologize for what…" he gritted his teeth. "For what they did to you."

She nodded against him, his shirt wet now. She'd half-expected him to shout profanities…maybe even punch a pillow. That would come later. Now he just looked…her throat tightened. He looked like he'd failed her.

"I didn't know how to tell you." She admitted sadly. He brushed his lips against her forehead.

"I'm glad you did anyway." He managed to keep his voice steady. "Damn it, Michelle I…" he nuzzled his face against her hair. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I shoulda - "

"There wasn't anything you could've done." She told him earnestly, her hand cupping his cheek. "And I'm _fine_." There was a brief pause as he processed this.

"Okay?" She kissed him softly.

He nodded solemnly, his own eyes prickling slightly. "Okay."

She leaned against him, relieved she'd stopped crying again and content to feel more than hear the soft thud of his heart beneath her.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" he asked after a few minutes of nothing. She shook her head a little and closed her eyes.

"I just need some time. I'll be fine."

" 'kay." He tightened his hold on her further and eased them into a reclined position on the couch. His hand was on her back to keep her from falling off and the other rested beneath her head. He used one finger to push an errant curl out of her eyes and she sighed a little, more content than she'd been in months.

"I love you, y'know…" He told her, completely serious. She kissed him gently.

"I love you too."

* * *

She'd been all smiles all night and he couldn't have been happier about that. It was the point of the entire evening. He watched with a slight smirk on the corner of his lips and a slight twinge in the pit of his stomach as her heels (Michelle's actually) clipped beside him on the sidewalk. She was a little wobbly and had kicked them off in the theatre when they had taken their seats. To tell the truth, he enjoyed the slight-awkwardness more than anything else about her appearance. It reminded him that beneath it all was still Alex.

She _did _look amazing and he'd told her so when he first saw her. Her strapless black dress flared slightly at the knee and in her hand she swung a small gold bag that matched her jewelry (her sister's really). The dress was one Claire had picked out for her at Barney's upon him mentioning the plan. The look was elegant and classic with little hints of Alex thrown in; like when her soft, straightened blonde hair tousled slightly in the night air and occasionally revealed the small tattoo on the back of her left shoulder; the smoky makeup she wore only served to intensify her eyes, and there was a long scar on the inside of her left arm from her father's attack a month before. He'd caught himself running his thumb along it more than once during the show.

She stumbled a little when a bunch of guys – young, late teens probably –bumped past them on the street and caused her to reach for his outstretched hand to keep herself from falling. He didn't give it back, tugging her across the street in the direction of his car.

"So did you die of boredom?" she interrupted his thoughts. He chuckled softly.

"It wasn't so bad."

"Just…remember our deal about never mentioning a certain something again…"

"That wasn't the first time I've seen you cry, Al."

"Yeah well…almost getting your head blown off by Russian insurgents is a little more traumatic than _Les Miserables_..."

He glanced at her carefully, feeling a little anxiety now. He hadn't wanted to upset her, but Claire had insisted it was her all-time favorite.

"But…still a good choice?" he waited to see her expression.

Her mouth softened and her eyes brimmed slightly with moisture.

"Like… a month before she died mom took Claire and me to see it. We used to go to shows all the time and Claire always hated the depressing ones but…" she shrugged to finish her sentence.

"It was a perfect choice. Thank you."

His anxiety dissipated and he squeezed her hand gently in response.

They walked silently for a few minutes. She spoke again when they entered the parking lot.

"Do I get a hint where we're going?"

"Nope."

"You're just full of surprises tonight, aren't you?"

"You have _no idea _how hard it was to pull this off without telling you."

She laughed and he edged her slightly closer, his hand dropping hers as he slung his arm across her shoulders.

"I'm surprised you haven't blindfolded me yet." She mumbled against his ear. Her shoes brought her within an inch or two of his height and her breath was hot on his neck. She smelled good too.

"I considered it. Believe me."

"So where are we going now?"

"You'll see."

"_Rick…_"

"Trust me."

She sighed melodramatically.

_"Fine."_

* * *

Michelle was sitting on the bed, her legs tucked beneath her and her back against some pillows. She reached up a hand to remove her hair and shook out her curls.

Tony looked a little anxious when he settled onto his side of the bed, his shirt half-unbuttoned. He rubbed the side of his cheek and bit his lip, observing her carefully.

"Honey are you sure you wanna…"

She smiled, bringing herself up to her knees and reaching out a hand to pull his own away from his face.

"I'm sure." She brought his hand to her mouth and pressed a kiss against his palm. He moved his fingers, brushing the hair out of her eyes and shifting slightly closer to her on the bed. Michelle shuffled closer to him and cupped his face between her hands, moving her lips to his.

It was soft, both their mouths remaining closed for the first few seconds as they adjusted to each other. In some ways it felt like dating all over again, both of them seeking reassurance from the other.

It was Michelle who opened her mouth, bringing his top lip between hers and suckling gently. A soft groan emitted from the base of his throat and his hands moved around her tentatively at first. When her hands slid through his hair and then to the base of his throat he pulled her waist more tightly against him and tapped his tongue to her bottom lip. His stomach tightened when he felt her grin against him, her tongue dipping into his mouth briefly as she moved her fingers to the collar of his shirt and slid beneath it. His bare skin felt hot to touch and any nerves she'd felt initially were replaced with a different kind of fluttering when his hands connected with skin and moved up her back. The kisses between them grew slightly more frantic and she felt one hand glide down slowly, almost teasingly, to her legs and lift them out from beneath her easing them back against the mattress.

"What time's Rick coming back?" she asked breathlessly when he pulled away to remove his shirt. Tony chuckled softly, nuzzling the crook of her neck.

"I dunno…late."

"Mhm…" Michelle groaned when his hands caressed her stomach. "We need to get our own place…I feel like I'm fifteen."

"Who were you doin' this with when you were fifteen?" Tony teased as he shifted against her. Taking her chin between his thumb and index finger and tilting her mouth against his.

"You're sure, right?" he panted breathlessly.

She nodded eagerly, pushing her tongue into his mouth again and moaning a little louder this time. Tony groaned aloud now, his hands going to the waist of her jeans and cautiously undoing the button and then zipper. All the while, he half-expected her to ask him to stop, but she didn't. He had her jeans on the floor in no time and stood briefly to remove his slacks, getting hard at just the thought of being this close to her again. He'd managed to keep his hormones at bay up until this point, feeling guilty every time he fantasized about this. The last six months almost killed her and he had no right to put any sort of pressure on her… Hell, if she told him flat out 'Tony, I can't ever have sex with you again after what happened' he probably wouldn't have even been phased by it. He was just too damn happy to have her back.

Of course, now that she actually wanted him back in _this way _he was finding it very hard to keep it together.

She placed her hand on his cheek, when he got her shirt over her head and smothered his lips over her stomach. The muscles in her legs tensed slightly when his palms moved across them, but it was enough for him to notice. He retreated back up her body, unhooking her bra. He had to contain the urge that bubbled up inside him when his hands moved to her cool breasts and massaged gently. She gasped, arching into him. His mouth dropped, his tongue circling her nipple once, twice, before he latched onto it. She breathed his name when his mouth moved to her other breast and one hand slid beneath her back, tugging her closer as he nipped at her soft skin.

When his hands returned to her stomach she tensed again and his mouth trailed up her neck and to her mouth.

"Michelle if you don't…" he whispered against her.

"I do." She gasped. "I want to." Her hands moved to his, bringing them back the waistband of her underwear.

He kissed her softly as he slowly removed her last article of clothing.

* * *

"You know if you left now you could still catch Sheryl before she has to go to the airport." Alex remarked smoothly when he checked his phone for what seemed like the thousandth time. An old flame from his days at Langley had called the previous night saying she was in town until Saturday afternoon and to call her at her hotel.

"I wasn't checking for messages." He informed her, his eyes on the dark ocean that glistened beneath the moonlight. They'd been relatively quiet since they'd arrived, soaking up the sounds of the waves lapping gently onto the beach and the occasional gust of wind. Sheryl had called twice and texted him three times since he'd left work that evening, but his thoughts were as far from her as possible in that moment.

"I was checking the time."

"Got somewhere you need to be?" she teased, nudging him in the side.

"Nope." He leaned over and reached into the small gym bag he'd grabbed from the backseat of his car at the last minute. Her eyes widened in surprise when he unveiled a bottle of champagne and two plastic flutes. He handed her the glasses and rose from their blanket, shaking the bottle slightly and popping the cork. It foamed at the neck and champagne spilled onto the ground below. She was practically glowing when he sat back down next to her and filled both glasses.

"It is now, _officially_, after midnight." Her cheeks flamed. He grinned and tapped the rim of his glass to hers, leaning in and lowering his voice slightly.

"Happy Birthday, Al."

She smiled widely and managed a soft, but sincere _thanks _before tilting the sweet liquid against her lips. Alex was grateful for the way it helped dissolve the lump that had formed in the back of her throat.

* * *

He could feel she was still tense as he tugged gently on her bottom lip before pulling away from her mouth and kissing his way between her breasts. They were spending a lot of time on foreplay, keeping his attentions above the waist. She said something he couldn't quite place when his mouth closed again, but could tell it wasn't in protest by the way she pressed into him and her hands found his back as he moved further down to her stomach with a few wet kisses. She groaned when his mouth reached the top of her thigh, her legs shifting slightly when he brushed his lips against a small scar right above her knee. His palm smoothed across her other leg, sliding across her silky skin before dipping both hands between them and easing her legs apart. He felt her muscles contract almost instantly and pulled back, moving towards her chest, neck and finally her mouth as he settled between her legs. An arm rested on either side of her and he slowly moved his hips against hers, shifting his knees so they rested between her hers.

"Still good?" Tony asked softly, a hand brushing the hair back from her face. Her eyes whipped open and she nodded briefly.

"Mhm…" Michelle's hands slid slowly up and down his sides. "I'm good."

He looked skeptical.

"Hey…" she touched his cheek with one finger and his eyes met hers. "I love you."

He sighed heavily and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

She kissed him back. "Good. Let's get this show on the road."

Tony laughed softly and nodded against her body as he moved back down it.

"Let me know if you want to stop."

She laughed breathlessly when he brushed his lips across her inner thigh.

"Will do…"

* * *

"You thought of everything, didn't you?"

Rick smirked. "I wanted it to be memorable."

"I can tell…since you're passing up sex to sit on the beach and freeze our asses off."

He laughed and turned to face her, eyes serious.

"Hey…I didn't tell you what I had planned for after this." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

To her credit, she lasted a good ten seconds before bursting into hysterics and shoving him affectionately. Her heart _may _have fluttered slightly when the words were first said, but it meant nothing. They joked like this all the time and he looked at her like _that _all the time. It meant nothing. He was her best friend.

"In your dreams." She snorted, reveling in the warmth his jacket provided when the wind picked up.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

* * *

Their lovemaking was definitely more tentative than they were used to, with a few teasing remarks thrown in courtesy of a panting Michelle to try and lessen the tension. She whimpered when his mouth first touched to her core and his hands pinned hers to the mattress. Her fingers ran through his hair and the heat pooled inside her as it occurred to her how long it'd been since they last did this…

She came hard – harder than she might've expected herself to for the first time since – and collapsed back on the mattress. He had an expression on his face that was mostly tender, with the subtlest hint of arrogance about it that very few people would've been able to pick up on. He pushed his tongue between her lips and she groaned into his mouth as he rubbed his body against hers.

"Ready?"

"Mhm…"

"Sure?"

"_Yes._"

He made a point of staying particular focused on her facial expression when she finally wrapped her hand around him and he eased into her. He saw no indication she was in any pain and moved a little deeper as she adjusted to him. She kissed him boldly and started moving against him and he ignored the sickening weight in the pit of his stomach as it occurred to him that someone else had done this to her – abused her like this. He gulped hard, focusing on where they were in that moment. He'd dwelled on the entire situation for the last week and now he just wanted to be with his wife.

She tried hard not to think about the last time someone had done this to her and how different the circumstances had been then. She knew he could feel how tense she was. He moved slowly at first, giving her time to get used to the sensations as he ran his tongue over her collarbone. She clung to him when they picked up the pace and her nails raked slightly down his back and shoulders. He groaned into her skin and she fought back tears, unsure as to why they'd chosen now to form. He wasn't hurting her in the least and she had a feeling it had less to do with what happened those six months than it did with how good he felt inside her.

This orgasm was more subdued than it had ever been with him before…but she'd been more nervous than she'd ever been with him before too. When he finally stopped moving against her his face buried against her shoulder and she sighed happily, feeling some sort of sense of accomplishment as a few tears finally slipped out of her eyes. He moved his lips to hers and brushed their noses together as one hand wiped her cheeks.

"Michelle…"

"I'm okay…" she choked out. "Honestly…I'm great."

He bit his lip uncertainly and rolled onto his back, his arms engulfing her as she brushed her damp cheeks against him. He pulled the blankets over their naked forms and she snuggled in deeper.

"Don't move, 'kay?" her words came out smushed against his chest. He nodded, his fingers combing through her hair as he fought the stinging in his own eyes.

" 'Kay."

* * *

The sun poking over the horizon was what finally made him check the time again. They'd been sitting on the beach for what hadn't felt like very long, but apparently was. Alex had curled her knees and shivered slightly a few times and he'd asked her if she wanted to go inside but she declined, filling both their glasses repeatedly until the bottle was empty. It was one of those nights where you talked about everything; funny anecdotes the other person had heard a hundred times before; recalling things you'd done together each of you adding your own point of view; sad stories that only came out when the mood was right, usually with a little more detail than the time before and with a little more ease... They talked about things they hadn't found the time to tell each other – like that she was planning on getting an apartment with Claire downtown and that he thought he was being selfish asking Tony to stick around at CTU for a few more weeks. She was happily buzzed and he was just happy.

"What time's it?" she mumbled, sounding a little drowsy now as she tilted her head against his warm shoulder. Her body was chilled even with his jacket on and he curled an arm around her.

"Almost six." He nudged her teasingly. "Wanna stay for the sunrise?"

"We don't see enough of those?" she teased back, really not wanting to go anywhere. He laughed.

"Not on the beach, slightly drunk on your birthday."

She grinned against his shirt, legs tucked slightly beneath her. "Sounds like a plan."

His hand reached across his body to rub her chilled calves vigorously.

"So…as far as birthday's go…where does this fall?"

She tilted her head towards him, pretending to consider this seriously.

"Oh…top fifteen for sure…"

She shrieked when he tickled her to the blanket below and laughed loudly when he pulled away, mumbling _Jerk_ under his breath.

* * *

Michelle reached for him as soon as he returned back to bed, her arms circling around his torso as she pressed back against his chest.

"Hey…" she sighed sleepily as he kissed the top of her head.

"Hey." He brushed his hand across her sleep-warmed skin. "Rick's not back yet."

He felt her smile against him.

"That's what you went to check?"

"Yeah well uh…I was a little worried he might've heard you the fourth time you – Michelle!" he pretended to be severely wounded when she smacked his stomach. After round one they'd dozed in and out of sleep for a few minutes before she finally gave up and straddled his hips, pressing a kiss to his throat. For Michelle it seemed to get easier each time and the nerves were completely gone now. This was just as it'd always been.

She pressed against, reaching over to suckle on his lower lip.

"Wanna make it an even five?"

"Five's not an even number, Michelle." He informed her flatly. She rolled her eyes and then started to pull away.

"Alright…fine, it doesn't matter to – mhm!" she squealed when he tackled her beneath him.

* * *

It was a quarter to seven when they finally left, him promising to stop off and get her one of her yuppie coffees before taking her home. She watched with amusement at the looks they received when they stepped into Starbucks still in evening clothes and looking completely disheveled. The latte he pressed into her hands warmed her from the inside out, and she couldn't help wishing the night had just begun.

When they reached her door she hugged him fiercely for longer than was necessary and thanked him again for everything, after telling him for the thousandth time he was crazy to spend so much on her. An instant before he pulled away she pressed her cheek against his.

"Best. Birthday. Ever."

* * *

It was eight-thirty when Rick finally stumbled in the door to find a very drowsy Tony leaning over the coffeemaker in a t-shirt and boxers. Michelle had fallen asleep a few minutes before, and both Tony and Rick were supposed to be at CTU for nine. That probably wouldn't be happening.

Rick wordlessly went straight for the coffee pot and poured himself a mug as they greeted each other tiredly.

"How was it?" Tony grumbled, taking a sip of his own.

Rick smiled slightly to himself. "Great. She's so happy…" he groaned a little, envious of Alex asleep in bed right at that moment.

"It's gonna be a long day…"

Tony grinned and nodded and Rick raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why do you look like crap?"

Tony shrugged innocuously. "Didn't sleep much."

Rick studied the slightly smug expression on his face and groaned even louder as he put the pieces together.

"Do I wanna ask why?"

Tony snorted. "Probably not."

Rick rolled his eyes. Today was going to be a long day for the both of them.


End file.
